


Chakram Reborn: The Bard, The Bitch And The Pacifist (S1,E9)

by MinderellatheBard1973 (GabrielletheBard1973)



Category: ChakramReborn, Gabrielle - Fandom, Gabrielle/Xena - Fandom, Xena - Fandom
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-18
Updated: 2020-03-26
Packaged: 2021-02-27 20:02:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 9
Words: 25,851
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22781431
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GabrielletheBard1973/pseuds/MinderellatheBard1973
Summary: When Xena and Gabrielle are asked by Senator Matt Byron to protect his twin daughters, Alex and Maxie Byron, who are getting death threats, they get the shock of their lives when they meet the twins. Alex and Maxie are doppelgängers to Gabrielle. Alex is a peaceful pacifist who believes in non-violence, while Maxie is a brash, mouthy environmental extremist, willing to destroy major companies to save the earth. With the help of Joxer, Gabrielle goes undercover as Maxie, while Xena plays bodyguard to Alex and Gabrielle to find out who wants the Byron twins dead! Can Joxer handle Maxie’s brash attitude and way of thinking, can Gabrielle handle Alex’s pacifist views and can Xena keep a straight face through all this!!
Relationships: Family - Relationship, enemies - Relationship, lovers - Relationship
Kudos: 9





	1. Gunshots, Explosions and Doppelgängers

Opening Scene:

It is early evening in the Phoenix area. In the parking lot of Brewster/Lennon Oil, a person in all black sneaks up to a new company truck and attaches a device to the bumper. The person then runs to the passenger side of a waiting car on the far end of the parking lot where a partner also in all black sits and waits in the driver's seat. 

“Now the waiting game begins.” says the person, with a familiar female voice, who put the device on the truck.

“Why? What did you do?” asks the other person, also with a familiar female voice.

“I just sent a message before they even start their project!” says the person in the passenger seat.

“I don’t like this.” says the driver.

“Hey! We need to get our point across! They are going to drill on sacred land!” says the passenger. “We have to send a message that they can’t go and drill where ever the fuck they want!! It’s depleting the earth’s natural resources!” 

“I get it, but ya know, you’re already on probation for the last stunt you pulled! If dad finds out about this, it could ruin his bid for re-election!” The driver says

“It won’t be linked back to me!” says the passenger. “I disabled the cameras in the parking lot.” 

“Oh, and then there the fact that your last stunt almost got me killed!” says the driver. “There are organizations out there who want you dead because you just can’t do things peacefully!”

“Listen, I didn’t mean for you to almost get killed,” says the passenger. “It would pain me if anything happened to you.”

Walking out is Hal Brewster, President and CEO and his foreman, Josh Baker. “Now Josh, I want your crew out there taking soil samples first thing Monday morning.” Hal says, “The quicker we get the results back, the quicker we can start drilling.”

“Yes sir.” Josh says, “I just wish the location was in a different area.”

Hal looks at Josh and sighs, “Listen, we bought the land. It’s ours.”

“But we’re going to disturb sacred land.” Josh says.

“I understand where you’re coming from Josh. But we could make a killing on this if there is oil there.” Hal says.

Both men start to walk to their cars, when all of the sudden, the new company truck blows up, sending both men to the ground. “Oh my god!” Hal says as they both look helplessly at the damaged truck. 

“GO! GO! GO!”, the passenger yells. The driver speeds out of the parking lot and down the street. The driver sharply turns the corner and they quickly speed off. A few minutes later they drive into another parking lot and stop. “Whew!”, the passenger yells in excitement. “That was such a fucking rush!”

“What the hell!! '' yells the driver. They both take off their masks and reveal that they look exactly like Gabrielle. Both women have the same short hairstyle as Gabrielle, only the passenger has red highlights, while the driver has brown highlights. 

“That was fun!!.” says the passenger smiling. 

“Maxie, you are crazy!” the driver says. “What if someone got hurt!”

“Alex, you worry too much!” Maxie says smiling. “I just wanted to send a message!”

“Exploding a company truck!!! Alex yells. ”Maxie, what if someone got killed!”

“It’ll be ok sis!” Maxie says. “Nobody got hurt. They weren't anywhere near that truck!”

“And where in the hell did you get that explosive device anyway!” Alex seriously says.

“I have connections!” Maxie says smirking.

“If we get caught, I could be an accomplice!” Alex says worried. “And then there goes my chances to go into the Peace Corps!”

“Sis, you worry too much” Maxie says.

All of the sudden a truck pulls up behind Alex and Maxie’s car and shots are fired from the passenger side, smashing their back window!

“Oh my god! Drive Alex!” Maxie yells in a panic. Alex hits the pedal and quickly speeds off down the road going at least 90 mph. Maxie feels a pain in her shoulder then looks over to her twin sister and discovers that she’s been hit in the shoulder. “Alex! Pull over now!” Maxie says in a panic.

“Why, what’s up?” Alex says

“You’ve been hit!” Maxie says as a tear comes down her face.

Panicked, Alex looks down at her bullet wound, pulls over and stops the car. “Oh my god Maxie!” Alex says worried, “I’ve been shot!”

Maxie jumps out and rushes to the drivers side and opens it. “Come on sis! We have to get you to a hospital!” Maxie helps Alex out of the car and takes her to the passenger side. Maxie grabs a couple t-shirts from the back and rolls them into a ball. “Hold this on the wound to stop the bleeding!” Maxie says worried. She runs over to the drivers side and gets in, starts the car and speeds off.

“I can’t believe you got me shot!” Alex says angry and screams in pain, “Ahh!” 

“I’m sorry!” Maxie says with tears rolling down her face, “We’ll be there soon! Just stay focused and breathe!”

A couple hours later Maxie sits in the emergency waiting room with her dad, Senator Matt Byron, his wife Olivia and the Senator’s adviser Vince Jennings. 

“I can’t believe you’d put your sister in this kind of danger!” Senator Byron says yelling and Maxie.

“I’m sorry!” Maxie says remorseful.

“What were you two doing on that side of town anyway?!?” Olivia seriously asks.

“We were checking something out for a new protest.” Maxie says.

“Sir, there was a vehicle explosion at Brewster/Lennon Oil headquarters,.” says Vince as he’s getting off his phone.

Senator Byron and Olivia look sternly at Maxie.

“Why are you two looking at me like that!?!” Maxie says

“Because, you would be the one to do something like this!” Senator Byron says seriously.

Suddenly the ER doctor comes out of the ER. “Senator Byron, Alex will be just fine.”, says the doctor. “ We were able to remove the bullet and there’s no permanent damage to any tendons, muscles or nerves.”

“Thank God!” Olivia says. “Can we see her?”

“Only two at a time. She’s highly sedated right now”, says the doctor. Maxie gets up and rushes into the ER with Olivia trailing after her.

“What am I going to do with Maxie, Vince?!?” Senator Byron says. “She’s so out there with her progressive way of handling her environmental views that she almost got Alex killed!!”

“Maybe an intervention might help sir.” Vince says.

“That won’t help!” Senator Byron says. “She is stubborn, set in her ways. When she wants something done, she’ll do it without any consequences.”

Vince starts to pace around. He turns to Senator Byron and says, “Maybe what happened to Alex scared her.”

“I hope so.” Senator Byron says, “What can we do to stop this! Someone is out to get Maxie. We need to find out who before one or both of them ends up dead the next time it happens.”

Vince gets out his phone and says, “I have an idea sir. It won’t involve any police or FBI and I think it’ll work.”

“What is it!” Senator Byron says, “I’ll take anything just so it’ll save my daughters from getting killed.”

“Do you know who Xena is?” Vince says

“That reborn warrior princess, yes.” Senator Byron says. “What does she have to do with this?”

“Take a look at her partner Gabrielle.” Vince says as he shows Senator Byron a picture of Gabrielle. They both smile.

“Are you serious!” Senator Byron says excited.

“Just listen to my plan.” Vince says smiling

————-

A couple days later at the ranch, Xena, Gabrielle and Joxer are in the stables. Xena is brushing down Blaze while Gabrielle is brushing down another horse. 

“You know, you’ve been ignoring Blaze lately.” Joxer says.

“How so?” Xena says as she puts her saddle on her.

“This is only like the third time you’ve ridden her in two weeks.” Joxer says.

“I took her out twice last week.” Gabrielle says as she puts a saddle on her horse. “Blaze knows we love her.”

Blaze lets out a sigh and nods her head yes. “See!” Xena says. “Just because it’s not like back in ancient times when I rode Argo all the time, doesn’t mean I don’t care about Blaze.”

Xena and Gabrielle get on their horses and take their reins. They start to ride out of the stable when Kira walks up to them and asks, “Hey Xena, Gabrielle, got a sec.”

“What is it Aunt Kira?” Xena asks.

“There’s two gentlemen here wanting to see Gabrielle and you. I think they need your help with something. Kira says.

“Who are they?” Gabrielle asks

“One of them is a state Senator.” Kira says

Xena and Gabrielle give each other a funny look and Xena says, “Ok, give us five minutes and we’ll be at the house.” 

Five minutes later, Xena and Gabrielle walk into the house and in the living room where Senator Byron and Vince are waiting.

“Senator Byron, this is my niece Xena and her partner Gabrielle.” Kira says.

The men turn around and Senator Byron is shocked by how Gabrielle and his daughters look so much alike. “Oh gee, hello there!” Senator Byron says to Gabrielle. “Wow!”

Gabrielle and Xena look at the men strangely and Xena asks, “Can we help you?” 

“Yes, I’m Senator Matt Byron and this is my assistant Vince Jennings. We were wondering if you would be available to help us on a mission of sorts.”

“What kind of mission?” Xena asks with her right eyebrow raised.

“You see, my twin daughters are environmental activists. Alex is the laid back peaceful type of protester.” Senator Byron says. “While Maxie is well..”

“An extremist.” Vince says.

“How so?”” Gabrielle asks.

“Did you hear about the vehicle explosion at the Brewster/Lennon Oil Headquarters?” Vince asks.

“Yeah. It’s a good thing nobody was hurt.” Kira says

“Maxie won’t admit it, but we think she was involved with it because they are going to be testing samples to drill for oil between the Arizona/New Mexico border.” Vince says.

“Because of Maxie’s radical actions, she’s been getting death threats.” Senator Byron says.

“From who?” Xena asks.

“We don’t know.” Vince says. “Could be anyone from corporate businesses or political rivals.”

“So why do you need our help?” Gabrielle asks.

“Two nights ago, after the incident with the vehicle explosion, Maxie and Alex were shot at. Alex is recovering from a gunshot wound to the shoulder, but we need someone to protect both Maxie and Alex and to find out who wants them dead.” Senator Byron says.

“Why don’t you contact the police or FBI?” Xena asks.

“Re-election is coming up.” Vince says. “We want this handled as quietly as possible.”

“So you want us to be their bodyguards and find out who wants them dead?” Xena asks.

“Something like that.” Senator Byron says. “Vince, why don’t you go and get Maxie, so Gabrielle and her can meet.”

“What do you mean, so we can meet?” Gabrielle asks. “What do I have to do with this?”

“I’m sorry, it’s just that you’re perfect for what I would like you two to do.” Senator Byron says.

Maxie’s voice can be heard coming inside the house, “You know, this is a crock of shit! I don’t know why I have to do this!”

“Because, it’s for your own safety.” Vince says as he brings Maxie in the living room.

Gabrielle and Maxie come face to face with each other, both having shocked looks on their faces. Xena’s first gets a shocked look on her face, then it turns to a smile. She is trying not to laugh while Kira is standing there dumbfounded.

“What the!” Maxie says shocked, “I know this isn’t   
Alex?!?” Maxie says confused. “What the hell is going on!! Who is this!?!

“Gabrielle, I’d like you to meet my daughter Maxie.” Senator Byron says. “Maxie, this is Gabrielle, the Battling Bard and her partner Xena, Warrior Princess.”

“Wow! This is insane!” Maxie says shocked. We look exactly alike!

“Yeah.” Gabrielle says confused. She turns to Xena and notices the smirk on her face. “You think this is funny, don’t you!” Gabrielle says annoyed.

“Just a little!” Xena chuckles then puts her hand on Gabrielle’s shoulder. “Well now my love, it’s your turn!” Gabrielle looks back at Maxie.

Joxer walks in and says, “Hey, what’s going…!” He stares at Gabrielle then Maxie pointing at the both of them with a shocked look on his face. “Um, Gabrielle, you have a doppelgänger!?!”

“I can see that Joxer!” Gabrielle says annoyed. Joxer smiles and starts to chuckle a bit while Xena is trying to signal him to stop. 

Kira looks at Xena and Joxer even more confused and says, “Do you two want to explain to me why you think this is funny?!?”

“Let’s just say I had a few doppelgangers back in the day.” Xena says smirking.

“And one of them was my wife, Meg!” Joxer says as he gets a big grin on his face.

Gabrielle looks at Senator Byron and asks, “So, what is your plan?”

“Well, we would like for you to assume the role of Maxie while Xena and you find out who wants her and her sister dead.” Senator Byron says.

“And what am I going to do dad?” Maxie says annoyed, “Be Alex?!? I’m not the peace and love type!”

“We know this.” Senator Byron says. “That’s why you’ll be hiding out for a while.”

“Like hell I will!” Maxie says. “She doesn’t know what I do or how I act!!”

“From what I’ve been told, you like to destroy property to prove a point.” Gabrielle says unamused.

“Damn right!!” Maxie says. “I bet you don’t know how to use explosives!”

Gabrielle looks at Maxie unamused, chuckles and says, “I think you should read up on what I did back in ancient times. I have many skills that would blow your mind! Your little explosive show a couple nights ago is nothing compared to what I’ve done.”

“Ok you two.” Xena says, “This is a friendly meeting.”

Gabrielle looks at Senator Byron and says, “I’m sorry sir. I’m just still in shock over all of this.

“It’s quite alright Gabrielle.” Senator Byron says. “You’ll have to forgive Maxie, sometimes she forgets her manners.”

“Hey!” Maxie says annoyed. “You don’t apologize for me!”

“Maxie, your sister took a bullet that was intended for you.” Vince says. “Someone wants you dead. Xena and Gabrielle are our only hope! Unless you want the police or FBI involved in this!”

Maxie looks at the ground then says unamused, “Fine! Ok! I’m sorry about the outburst!”

“Ok!” Senator Byron says then looks at Xena and Gabrielle, “If you would like, you two could come to my house sometime tomorrow, meet Alex and we can talk more about what I would like for you two to do.”

“How about around one.” Xena says.

“That’s fine!” Senator Byron says, “I’ll give you our address.”

Senator Byron gives Xena his address and Gabrielle and Maxie stare each other down. Maxie then looks down at Gabrielle’s Sais and asks, “What are those?

Gabrielle looks at her Sais, smirks and says, “Oh, these!” She quickly takes them out flipping them around then pointing them in Maxie’s direction, who gets a wide eyed, yet scared look on her face. “These are my weapons. They are ancient Sais. I killed many people with these to protect the greater good.” Gabrielle says as she lets Maxie stare at them up close.

“You did some damage with these huh!” Maxie says cautiously. 

Gabrielle smiles and says as she puts them back in her holsters, “Oh yeah! You have to be trained to use these!”

Maxie looks over at Xena and notices the Chakram and asks, “What’s that?”

“It’s a Chakram.” Gabrielle says. “Only Xena and I know how to use it.”

“So why does it stay with her?” Maxie asks.

“It always does.” Gabrielle says. “That’s her signature weapon.”

“How come you don’t carry guns?” Maxie asks, “They’re a quicker solution.”

“We are more refined fighters.” Gabrielle says. “Guns may be a quicker solution, but pointing a gun and pulling the trigger is nothing compared to the thrill and skill of hand-to-hand combat.”

Maxie’s gets a shocked look on her face as her dad and Vince walks up to her and her dad says, “Well now Maxie, I think we’ll go now.” He looks at everyone and says, “It was a pleasure meeting all of you.”

Gabrielle and Maxie stare seriously at each other one more time, then Senator Byron, Maxie and Vince leaves. Gabrielle turns to Xena, who still has a small smirk on her face. Gabrielle looks at her unamused and says, “You still think this is funny!”

“Come on Gabrielle!” Xena says as she puts her arm around her shoulder. “Like I said earlier, it’s your turn now!”

“She seems like a troublemaker!” Gabrielle says.”Real arrogant and mouthy. I was never like that!”

“No you weren’t” Xena says. 

“You did have your bitchy moments at times!” Joxer says. Gabrielle looks at Joxer and twists his ear. “Ow! Ow! Ok! You were practically an angel!” Joxer says in pain as Gabrielle lets go of his ear and smirks at him.

“Hey Joxer, you know this area, ya want to come with us?” Xena asks.

“You mean I finally get to go on an adventure with you two! Joxer says happily.

“Sure.” Xena says.

“I wonder what the other sister is like?” Joxer asks

“Hopefully not like Maxie!” Gabrielle says as she turns to Xena and says, “This better be worth it!”

“I think it will!” Xena says smiling. “Come on! Let's go for that ride!” Xena grabs Gabrielle's hand and they leave the house.

Kira walks up to Joxer and asks, “Ya want to tell me about Xena’s doppelgangers!?!”

“Oh yeah” Joxer says smiling. There was a princess named Diana, a virgin hestian priestess named Leah and then there was Meg!” Joxer gets a big grin on his face remembering his wife. “Meg was in her own league!”

———

At Brewster/Lennon Oil, Hal is talking with Dale Lennon, his partner in Dale’s office, “The police says there was an explosive device attached to the truck!” Hal says. “And the cameras in the parking lot were disabled. We are new to this business! Who would want to destroy us?!? An established company?”

“I have a feeling it was an environmental extremist.” Dale says seriously.

“There’s such a thing?” Hal asks.

“Oh yeah!” Dale says. “These environmental extremists love to destroy to get their point across.” 

“We are a new company. Why don’t they target the bigger ones? Hal says. “That was an 80,000 dollar truck, now it's garbage!”

“Insurance will cover it.” Dale says. “I’m just worried about who attacked us.”

Walking into Dale’s office are two men. “Hal. I’d. Like to introduce Steve and Joe Bernard.” Dale says, “I’ve hired them to track down who targeted us.”

“Don’t you think the police and FBI can handle this.” Hal says.

“These men can track the perts down faster than the cops or FBI. Dale says. “Once they find who did this, we can clear things up and move on.”

Hal looks at the two men cautiously and says, “Just so nobody gets killed. I run a clean business and I trust that everything will be legit.”

“Don’t worry Hal!” Dale says. “Nobody will get killed. I’m just helping the police find out who did this. I’m going to announce my bid for state senator soon and I’ve always kept everything clean. You know that.”

“Ok.” Hal says, “I’m trusting you.”

“Mr. Brewster, don’t worry.” Steve says, “We are legit investigators. We’ve helped local, state and federal law enforcement on matters such as these.”

“We find the perpetrators and lead law enforcement to them.” Joe says taking out a card and handing it to Hal. 

Hal reads the card, shakes his head yes and says, “Ok then. Just find out who did this and let the cops handle it!”

Hal walks out of the room. Steve and Joe sit down and Dale breathes a sigh of relief “Thanks boys for covering your tracks.”

“Do you think he’ll figure anything out?” Steve says

“No! He trusts me too much.” Dale says. “Now, were you able to kill her.”

Steve and Joe look at each other nervously and Joe says, “No sir. We ended up hitting her sister.”

“Damn it!!!” Dale says angrily. 

“They are identical twins sir!” Steve says. “It’s hard to tell them apart!”

“Alex Byron is a wallflower! It’s Maxie that I want dead!” Dale says. “How is she?”

“She’s at home recovering.” Steve says. “We only shot her in the shoulder.”

Dale gets up from his desk and walks around. He stops and looks out the window and says, “I want Maxie Byron dead! She is going to not only destroy this company with her environmental tactics, but ruin my chance to get her dad out of office.”

“The problem is that the Byron twins are always together, no matter where they go.” Joe says. “It’s that twin thing they got going.”

Dale turns around looks at them and says, “Well now, you two are just going to have to separate them and take Maxie out!”

“How do we do that?” Steve asks.

“Figure it out!” Dale yells. “I want Maxie gone! It’s the only way I can get Matt Byron's senate seat and get the funding for the drilling in this area! Do what you need to do, but don’t tie me to this!!! Now go! I want Maxie Byron dead!”


	2. Meeting Alex and Becoming Maxie

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Xena, Gabrielle and Joxer meet the rest of the Byron family, including Alex. They discover that Alex and Maxie may look identical, but personality wise they are very, very different. Plus, Gabrielle changes up her appearance to get into the character of Maxie, with the help of Joxer.

The next day, Joxer, Xena and Gabrielle pull into the posh home of the Byron family. “Oh my god!” Joxer says amazed. “Can you believe this!”

Xena and Gabrielle look at the place and shrug. “It’s alright.” Xena says. 

They get out of the truck and walk to the front door. Xena rings the doorbell and Vince opens the door, “Well, afternoon!” Vince says. “Why don’t you come in? The rest of the family is out on the patio. They can’t wait to meet you.”

Xena, Gabrielle and Joxer walk into the posh looking house. Expensive art work hangs on the walls. Joxer looks around and says, “Wow! Fancy!” Xena and Gabrielle look at the artwork unamused and shrug their shoulders. 

Vince walks the trio out to the patio, Senator Byron, Olivia and Maxie are sitting at a table. “Sir, they’re here.” Vince says.

Senator Byron looks over at them and Olivia and him get up to greet the trio. “Hello!” Senator Byron says. “Olivia, these are the women I talked to you about. This is Xena.” 

“Hello.” Xena says. She then looks at Joxer and says. “This is our friend Joxer Jacks.”

“Nice to meet you.” Joxer says putting out his hand.

“Joxer? Is that French!?” Olivia asks as she shakes his hand.

“I’m originally from the Rome area.” Joxer starts to say but Xena elbows him in the stomach to shut up.

Senator Byron looks at Gabrielle, smiles and says. “And this is Gabrielle!”

Olivia’s eyes get wide as she looks at Gabrielle and says, “Oh my! My girls and you look identical! It’s amazing.” Olivia turns to Maxie, who is on her phone, and says, “Maxie! Isn’t this amazing!” 

Maxie looks up from her phone unamused and says, “Yeah, it is.”

Olivia looks back at Xena, Gabrielle and Joxer and says, “You’ll have to excuse Maxie, she gets into little moods every now and then.”

“Stop apologizing for me!”, yells Maxie as she’s glued to her phone. Xena, Gabrielle and Joxer smirk a little.

“Let me get Alex for you! She can’t wait to meet you!” Olivia says. She then looks over to a covered gazebo and says, “Alex! We have company!”

The scene pans to the front of the gazebo and sitting cross-legged on a bench with her eyes closed is Alex. She has her left arm in a sling and is dressed in sandals, black yoga pants, a sleeveless white t-shirt and a long, white unbuttoned shirt. Alex opens her eyes, smiles, gets up and walks around the gazebo. Xena, Gabrielle and Joxer look on surprised and in awe as Alex walks up to them like a ray of sunshine with a huge smile on her face. 

“Hello!” Alex says, “I’m Alex!” She puts out her right hand and looks at Xena and says, “You must be Xena!”

Xena smiles, shakes Alex’s hand and says, “Hello Alex. Nice to meet you.”

Alex looks at Joxer smiles and says, “Hi! I’m Alex.”

Joxer gently grabs her hand and says mesmerized by her beauty and grace, “Hello! I’m Joxer!!” He kisses her hand then says, “It’s a pleasure to meet you!”

Alex looks at Gabrielle with a huge smile and says, “You must be Gabrielle! My father said you resembled my sister and I, but wow! This is crazy! It’s an honor to meet you!” 

“You also!” Gabrielle says in a positive mood.

Alex looks over at Maxie and says, “Maxie! This is crazy! Isn’t it!”

Maxie looks up from her phone and says, “Yeah! I met them yesterday.” Maxie goes back to her phone unamused. 

Alex looks at the trio and says, “You’ll have to excuse my sister. We’re identical, except for our personality.”

“Stop apologizing for me!” Maxie yells. 

“Well then, why don’t we all sit down and discuss what I would like you two to do.” Senator Byron says. 

A few minutes later, the group sits at a long patio table. Olivia brings out a tray of sweet tea and glasses and proceeds to serve everyone.

“I’m grateful to the both of you for agreeing to do this.” Senator Byron says. 

“Well, helping the greater good is what we do.” Xena says. 

“So you’re reincarnated warriors from ancient times?” Olivia asks. “Fascinating.”

Xena and Gabrielle smirk then look over to Alex and Maxie who take their glass of tea and take a sip at the same time.

“Gabrielle, I would like you to spend the day with Maxie if that’s ok.” Senator Byron says. “I just want you to get a feel of who she is.”

Maxie sets her phone on the table and asks seriously, “So, while she’s parading around as me, where will I be! I obviously can’t stay here!”

“She can stay at our place at my aunt's ranch.” Xena says. 

“Kira isn’t going to keep an eye on her!” Gabrielle says seriously.

“That’s why Joxer will!” Xena says smirking at Joxer.

Joxer gets a shocked look on his face and says, “I will!”

Xena gets up, looks at the Byron family with a smile and says, “Excuse us for a moment please!” She grabs Joxer and Gabrielle and they walk over to the gazebo.

“I thought I was going to help you on this mission!” Joxer says seriously whispering.

“You are!” Xena says smiling. “You are going to watch Maxie while Gabrielle and I find out who wants to kill Alex and her!”

Joxer looks over at Maxie with an unamused look and says, “But, she’s a total bitch! Look at her!”

“Maybe you can work your Joxer charm on her!” Gabrielle says smirking.

“Listen, you do this for us and I will ask one of the Amazons to go on a date with you!” Xena says smirking.

“Lauren!” Joxer says smiling.

“No!” Gabrielle quickly says. “Lauren is off limits!”

“Why!” Joxer says. “Is she seeing someone?”

“Sort of.” Xena says with a little smirk. “Do this for us and one of the other Amazons will go on a date with you. I promise!”

Joxer looks over at Maxie, then back at Xena and Gabrielle and says, “This better be worth it!”

“Oh it will!” Gabrielle says smiling. 

“Ok, I’ll do it.” Joxer says cautiously. 

The trio walks back to the table and sits down. “Maxie will stay at our place and Joxer will protect her in case whoever is trying to kill them finds out where she is.” Xena says.

“Is he skilled in protecting people?” Olivia asks.

“I can guarantee you that Maxie will be well protected under my wing madam!” Joxer says. 

“Oh great!! So my bodyguard will be the idiot sidekick.” Maxie says sarcastically.

“Maxie please! Be nice!” Alex says seriously. “Dad is trusting these people to protect us! Show some respect!”

Maxie looks over at Joxer and says, “Joker, I apologize. I didn’t mean to offend you.”

“None taken.” Joxer says. “And the name is Joxer.”

“So as I mentioned Gabrielle, I would like for you to assume the identity of Maxie, which means you’d have to get her mannerisms and look down to a tee, so whoever is trying to kill her doesn’t get suspicious.” Senator Byron says.

“That won’t be a problem Senator.” Gabrielle says. “In my past, I’ve impersonated tons of people.” 

Gabrielle looks at Alex and Maxie, who again take a sip of tea at the same time.

“As you can see, their mannerisms are the same.” Olivia says. “We wouldn’t expect you to do this here in our home. But outside the home, it’s a different story.”

Gabrielle smirks a little and says, “I’m sure I’ll catch on.”

“And what kind of weapons do you use?” Olivia asks. “We don’t believe in firearms.”

“Well, we use hand-to-hand combat.” Xena says. “I do carry a Chakram.”

“A what?” Olivia asked puzzled.

Xena takes her Chakram off her hilt on shows it to the family, who get a surprised look on their faces. 

“And I carry a pair of Sais.” Gabrielle says as she pulls them from her boots and shows the family, who again get surprised looks on their faces.

“Well, like I mentioned earlier. It’s an honor to meet both of you.” Alex says. “To be in the presence of two reincarnated legends is amazing. I’ve read about some of the things you did back in ancient times and I find it historic to that era. But I will let you know that I don’t believe in violence in any form.”

Xena, Gabrielle and Joxer get shocked looks on their faces.

“I believe that violence is a useless tactic.” Alex says. “Talking things out is a far better solution.”

“Honey, that’s fine in situations like one of your protests. But Maxie and your life is in danger.” Senator Byron says. “If Xena or Gabrielle needs to protect you, they are going to fight off whoever wants you killed.”

Alex looks to the ground then back up to the group and says, “I just think there are better solutions than violence.”

“Ya see, that’s where we’re different!” Maxie says seriously. “If I had a gun the night we were shot at, I would’ve fired back at those mother fuckers!”

“Maxie!” Olivia says in a scolding tone of voice. “Please don’t use that language in front of guests!”

“I’m sorry!” Maxie says seriously then looks at Alex. “But this is serious!”

“Yes it is.” Senator Byron says. “Alex, I commend your pacifist views. But the lives of you and your sister are in danger. I asked Xena and Gabrielle to do this because I want you two safe!”

“But there are better solutions than violence!” Alex says seriously.

“Listen, we try to not use violence.” Xena says seriously. “It is our last option.”

“I have read what you two did back in ancient times.” Alex says as she then looks at Xena seriously. “You were known as the destroyer of nations. You killed many people in your past life. For what?!? Conquest! Fame! Glory! Many lives were lost because of your barbaric ways! What’s not to say that you’ll do the same now, in today's world!”

That remark makes Xena look at Alex in pure anger.

“If you also read, she reformed herself!” Gabrielle says seriously. “And the good that she did outweighed her dark past! With my help, she reformed herself and we fought and protected the greater good through the known world at the time.” 

“Stop criticizing her Alex!!” Maxie says seriously looking at her twin in anger. “For once in your life, don’t be so judgmental about the negative things people do or did in their lives!” 

Alex looks at Xena and says, “I apologize if I offended you. I just feel very strongly about my views.”

“Understandable.” Xena says seriously. “But let me assure you Alex, in today’s world, we use violence only as a last option.”

“Alex, just let Xena and Gabrielle do their thing. Senator Byron says seriously . “I have faith that this will end up successful. Please! Trust me and them on this.”

Alex looks down at the ground, then back up at the group and says, “Fine! I will trust that this will be as peaceful as possible.”

“Fine!” Senator Byron says. He then looks at Gabrielle and says, “If you want to come here tomorrow or the next day to spend with Maxie, we can arrange it.” 

“Give me a couple days.” Gabrielle says. “I want to do some cosmetic changes. Just to get into character.”

“That’s fine.” Senator Byron says then looks at Maxie. “Is that ok with you?”

“Fine!” Maxie says unamused as she goes back to her phone.

Xena, Gabrielle and Joxer stand up and Xena says, “We will be in touch.”

Vince stands up and says, “Ok then, I will be in contact with you in a couple days and we’ll set things up! Let me walk you out.”

As the trio walk through the house with Vince, Joxer whispers to Xena and Gabrielle, “Looks like you two will have your hands more full than I will!”

“Shut up Joxer!” Gabrielle says unamused.

——

The next morning, Xena and Gabrielle are at the main house with Joxer and Kira. Xena, Gabrielle and Joxer fill Kira in on the Byron family and what went on during their meeting.

“So, Alex, who is a pacifist, basically threw your past in your face!?!” Kira says shocked at Xena. “I’m surprised you kept your cool.”

“I am too.” Xena says. “At first Alex came off as sweet, nice and caring. And then she made sure we knew how she stood about violence.”

“Unlike Maxie.” Gabrielle says. “Maxie is mouthy, arrogant and very entitled. But for some reason, she actually defended Xena when Alex confronted her about her dark life And why their father want us to protect them..”

“And you’re going to go undercover as Maxie?” Kira asks. “Can you handle this Gabrielle?”

“We role played a lot of people back in ancient times.” Gabrielle says. “It’ll be hard, but I can handle this.” Gabrielle takes a box of hair dye out of her bag and says, “Now for the cosmetic changes. Maxie has red highlights. I’ve never dyed my hair before so this will be interesting.”

“I can help you with that.” Kira says.

“I can help also!” Joxer says. Xena, Gabrielle and Kira look strangely at him. “My cousin Ricky is a stylist! He taught me how to do highlights! Come on! Trust me on this one! How do you think these highlights get done!” Joxer says pointing to his highlights.

“Ok!” Gabrielle says cautiously, “But Kira will supervise this!”

“Was going to anyway.” Kira says

“Awesome! Now we just have to bring up a headshot of Maxie, then I can begin my work!”

“I’m going to go out and feed Blaze.” Xena says. She looks at Joxer and smirks. “If you screw up Joxer, you're dead!”

“You won’t kill me!” Joxer says smirking back cautiously.

“No, but I will.” Gabrielle says staring him down.

“Gabby! Just trust me!” Joxer says smiling at her.

“Ok! Everyone have fun!” Xena says as she walks out of the house shaking her head and chuckling.

An hour later, Xena walks back into the house, “So, how’s the transformation going?” Xena asks.

Joxer smiles at Xena and says, “Why don’t you take a look for yourself.”

Gabrielle walks into the living room looking exactly like Maxie. From the highlighted hair to the clothes. Xena gets a shocked and surprised look on her face as Gabrielle smiles and says, “What do you think?”

“Wow!” Xena says as she walks around Gabrielle smiling. “Joxer, I never thought you’d have a flair for redesigning people.”

“It was either that or cooking!” Joxer says smirking.

“No!” Xena and Gabrielle yells seriously.

Xena then looks at Gabrielle and says, “Now all you have to do is copy her personality and mannerisms and we’re ready to go!!”

“Being mouthy and entitled won’t be a problem.” Gabrielle says. “It’s copying the same mannerisms as Alex that’s going to be hard.”

“Well, when we go there tomorrow, just study the twins.” Xena says. “Their walk, their talk, everything. You have to get Maxie’s personality down to a science.”

——-

The next day at the Byron home, Xena, Gabrielle and Joxer stands outside the front door. Xena rings the doorbell and Vince answers it. He looks at Gabrielle and says, “Maxie, you have the code to get in. Why didn’t you use it?”

Gabrielle looks at Vince, smirks and says, “I’m Gabrielle!”

Vince looks Gabrielle up and down in shock and says, “Wow! You look exactly like Maxie! Come on in! Everyone will be shocked to see you!”

Vince walks the trio through the house and onto the patio, “Senator, the trio is here.” Vince says.

Senator Byron and Olivia look at the trio and get shocked looks on their faces as they look at Gabrielle. “Wow!” Senator Byron says, “If I wouldn’t have known you were Gabrielle, I would’ve sworn you were Maxie!”

“I can’t believe it!” Olivia says. “It’s an identical match!”

“Well I did my best to match the look of Maxie!” Joxer says. Senator Byron and Olivia look at Joxer strangely. “I helped with the transformation.” Joxer says.

Alex and Maxie walk into the patio having a conversation and they automatically look at Gabrielle with shocked looks on their faces.

“Whoa!” Alex says. “You look exactly like Maxie!”

Maxie stares at Gabrielle and says, “Wow! It’s like looking in a mirror!”

“I did all the work!” Joxer chimes in with a smile on his face. 

Gabrielle looks at Maxie and says, “So, I’m going to be shadowing Alex and you to get a feel of your mannerisms.”

“You do whatever.” Maxie says. “I’m just floored by your appearance! There’s just one thing you need to know about me.”

“What’s that?” Gabrielle says. Maxie lifts up her shirt sleeve to reveal a colorful tattoo of the Greek symbol for strength. Gabrielle stares at it in amazement and says “That’s the Greek symbol for strength!” 

Maxie looks down at it and says, “Really? Cool! I just thought to was an amazing tattoo!” 

“Hey Xena, get a load of this” Gabrielle says.

Xena walks over and looks at Maxie’s tattoo, smiles, gets out her phone and says “Cool tat!” Xena then snaps a picture of the tattoo. “She’ll have that exact tattoo by tomorrow!”

“I will?” Gabrielle says

“Yeah!” Xena says. “Remember, I’m an artist!”

Gabrielle smirks at her and says, “Oh yeah!” 

An hour later, Xena and Joxer look on as Alex and Maxie teaches Gabrielle their mannerisms. Gabrielle follows Maxie’s every move. From her stance, her walk to her hand shake, Gabrielle watches every move that Maxie makes. Another hour has past and Alex and Maxie sits across from the trio and Alex looks at Gabrielle and says, “I think that was everything.”

“Do you think you can handle this?” Maxie asks looking at Gabrielle.

Gabrielle takes a breath and says, “Yeah! I think I got it.”

Alex and Maxie stands up and Maxie says, “Cool. If you’ll excuse us, we have a rally to go to.” 

The twins stands up and Alex says, “I believe this will be a successful experience!”

“It will be.” Xena says seriously

“And peaceful?” Alex says seriously.

“We’ll try our best.” Xena says smirking.

The twins say goodbye and the trio stands up and looks at Senator Byron and Olivia.

“Well, we will see you in a couple days for the switch.” Xena says

“Looking forward to it.” Olivia says.

As Vince escorts them out Joxer whispers to Xena and Gabrielle “I still think you two will have your hands more full with Alex than I will with Maxie!” 

“Shut up Joxer!” Gabrielle says unamused.


	3. The Switch, Evil Plans And Maxie At The Cabin

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hilarity continues as Maxie continues to call Joxer ever J name, but his own. Maxie also fills Gabrielle in on some stuff about Alex, Sale sets a plan with Steve and Joe to take down the twins and Joxer and Maxie arrive at the cabin

Two days later, Xena, Gabrielle and Joxer pull up to the Byron house, “So, you ladies ready for this?” Joxer asks.

“Yeah.” Gabrielle says. “Everything’s in order and ready to go.” 

Xena looks at Joxer and says, “I hid my sword at Aunt Kira’s. I trust you, but not Maxie.”

“Understandable.” Joxer says.

“Joxer, we don’t know how long this will take but do us a favor.” Gabrielle says. 

“What?” Joxer asks cautiously.

“Try and get Maxie to tell you why she’s the way she is, ok.” Gabrielle says. “I think she’s hiding behind her arrogant personality.” 

Joxer gives Xena and Gabrielle a look and says, “I don’t think she’s hiding anything. She’s all bitch.”

“We don’t think so.” Xena says. “We think there’s something more to Maxie.”

Joxer sighs and says, “Ok, I’ll do it. But you two owe me big time!”

“Don’t worry!” Gabrielle says. “ The next major mission you will fully be included!”

“I will remind you of that!” Joxer says.

They get out of the truck, Joxer grabs Xena and Gabrielle’s bags and they walk to the front door. Xena rings the doorbell and Vince answers it and says, “ Hello! Everyone is waiting for the three of you!” 

As Vince walks the trio through the house, Xena asks, “So Vince, how long have you worked for Senator Byron?”

“Twenty five years or so.” Vince says. “I remember when the twins were born! Senator Byron was over the moon! Maxie was a surprise, but still!!!” 

The trio smiles as they go onto the patio. The whole family sits at the long table as Vince and the trio walks to them. 

“Senator, the trio have arrived.” Vince says

The Senator looks at the trio and says, “Hello! Sit down, please!”

Joxer puts the bags down and the trio sits across from The whole family. 

“So is everything ready to go?” Senator Byron asks.

“Yes.” Xena says.

Maxie looks at Gabrielle, hands her a folder and says, “This is the itenary of everything Alex and I will be doing this week.”

Gabrielle glances at the folder and says, “You two do a lot of protesting. Do you go to college at all?” 

“I go to Arizona State.” Alex says. “My major is Poly-Sci with a minor in American history!”

“She wants to one day follow in her father’s footsteps!” Olivia says proudly.

Xena, Gabrielle and Joxer then look at Maxie, who says, “I’m in between majors right now.”

“She was going to go into law, but she changed her mind.” Alex says.

“It’s just not what I wanted to do with my life!” Maxie says annoyed. “I’ll figure it out!”

Senator Byron looks at Xena and Gabrielle and says, “Maxie is a very bright young woman, she’s just weighing her options right now.”

Xena, Gabrielle and Joxer stare at the younger twin seeing a sense of pain in her eyes and they start to feel bad for her. Maxie then composes herself, looks at Gabrielle and says, “So, as I showed you the other day, I have a tattoo.”

“Yes, it’s very unique!” Gabrielle says as she lifts up her shirt sleeve to reveal the same tattoo.

Maxie’s eyes widen in excitement as she study’s it. She looks at Gabrielle and says, “Wow! You didn’t have to go out and get a tattoo on my account!”

“It’s not real!” Gabrielle says, “Xena used body markers!”

Maxie looks at Xena, smiles and says, “Nice work!”

“Thanks!” Xena says smirking at Maxie.

Maxie looks over at Joxer, smirks and says, “So Jaxson, you think you can handle me for a week?!?”

Joxer gets an annoyed look on his face and says, “Yeah! And the name is Joxer!”

“Xena, in two days, I’m going to be making an announcement in downtown Phoenix about my re-election bid.” Senator Byron says. “I was wondering if Vince and I could go over security measures with you.”

“Of course.” Xena says. “Do you have a map of the area?” 

As Vince brings over a laptop and shows Xena a live picture of the surroundings, Maxie leans over to Gabrielle and says, “Gabrielle, could you come by the gazebo, I just want to go over a couple more things about me, so we’re on the same page!”

Gabrielle and Maxie gets up and walks to the gazebo and Gabrielle says, “What is it.”

“I was wondering if you would wear a mini bodycam when you're out with my family, especially my sister?”

Gabrielle gives her a strange look and says, “Why?”

“It’s not that I don’t trust you, I just want to make sure my sister is ok with you.”

“Why, she seems to like me? Gabrielle says cautiously.

Maxie sighs and says, “Alex loves everyone. She a fucking ray of loving sunshine most of the time, but it’s just that when she talks about her pacifist views in public she gets very vocal.”

“There’s nothing wrong with expressing your views.” Gabrielle says.

“She slapped the governor once when they got into a heated discussion over the state's national guard.” Maxie says. Gabrielle’s eyes get wide then Maxie says, “Yes, I destroy property to get my point across. But Alex sometimes takes her views to the extreme. I just want to watch what’s going on outside the house. I hope you understand.” 

Gabrielle looks seriously over to Alex and says, “Ok, I’ll do it. I have a mini camera packed away in my bag. I can link the app to your phone or laptop and you can watch everything.”

“Thank you.” Maxie says. “And yes, I come off as the bitch of the family. But the one thing you’ll see is that I’m real.” Maxie gives her phone to Gabrielle, who downloads an app, sets it up and gives it back to her.” Oh! And if you two come across a hot guy, you won’t have a chance.”

Gabrielle giggles and says, “That won’t be a problem.”

“I know Xena and you are a couple.” Maxie says smirking . “I’m just giving you a heads up. Look over at her right now, she’s practically has Jameson in the palm of her hands ” They glance over at Alex who is in deep conversation with Joxer, who’s totally fixated by her charm. Gabrielle and Maxie giggles a bit.

They walk back to the table and Gabrielle asks Xena, “Everything all set with security measures?” 

“Yeah.” Xena says. “I told Vince to set up some security around the perimeters that he showed me. So what did Maxie want to tell you?”

“We’ll talk when we’re alone.” Gabrielle says. 

“Do you ladies want me to show you to your rooms?” Olivia asks.

“Rooms?” Gabrielle says puzzled 

“Yes. I hope you two find your bedrooms to your liking.” Olivia says. “I will say that you two share a bathroom, if that’s ok.”

Xena gives Gabrielle a small smirk and then tells Olivia, “That’s fine!” She then whispers into Gabrielle’s ear, “Go with it! I’ll sneak into your room later.”

Maxie looks at Joxer and says, “Well Jester, I guess we should go! I’ll grab my bags!” 

As Maxie goes to get her bags, Joxer yells, “It’s Joxer!” He then looks at Xena and Gabrielle and says unamused “I better get to go out with either Bree, Kendal or Amarice for doing this!” 

“Don’t worry Joxer!” Xena says as she starts to laugh, “You’ll be rewarded for this!”

Maxie brings her bags on the patio and hands them to Joxer and says, “Shall we go Jetson?!?” 

He stares angrily stares at her and says, “Sure.”

Maxie looks at her family and says, “I’ll be in touch.”

“Of course dear!” Olivia says.

Maxie looks at Gabrielle, smirks and says, “Good luck.” She then looks at Xena and says seriously , “Please find who wants us dead. I know you’ll take care of them.”

Xena smiles, nods at Maxie and says, “Don’t worry.”

Maxie and Joxer start to leave when Alex yells, “Sorry in advance for her mood swings!”

Maxie and Joxer stops, Maxie turns around and yells, “Stop apologizing for me!” They then quickly exit the patio.

Gabrielle whispers to Xena, “Joxer is going to have it easy.”

“Ya think so?” Xena asks.

“Yeah. Maxie isn’t the bitch we think she is.” Gabrielle says. “She’s just jaded.”

———-

At the Brewster/Lennon offices, Steve and Joe walk into Dale’s office and up to his desk.

“So, when is their next protest?” Dale asks

“Our sources say tomorrow at a GreenPeace rally.” Joe says.

“ I have an idea. Go there and scope them out, get to know them.Then when the time is right, eliminate them.” Dale says.

“Another source says Senator Byron hired a bodyguard for them.” Steve says.

“That doesn’t mean a thing.” Dale says. “If you have too, befriend the bodyguard also.” 

“Do you want us to eliminate the bodyguard when the time comes?” Steve says.

“Yeah.” Dale says. “I want to send Senator Byron a warning he’ll never forget.”

Hal walks in and sees the three men and asks, “Sorry, am I interrupting you?” 

“No! Not at all!” Dale says. “Steve and Joe were just leaving.” 

“We’ll have that report for you in the next couple days.” Steve says.

“Good thing.” Dale says as Joe and Steve leave.

“So any word on who blew the new truck up?” Hal says. 

“They have it narrowed down to two groups.” Dale says. “They’re going to a GreenPeace rally tomorrow to scope things out.”

“Just so this investigation is legit.” Hal says worried. “I want whoever did this to be arrested, not harmed.”

“Don’t worry Hal!” Dale says. “They are in contact with the police daily. My investigators will find the culprits and they will be brought to justice! You can count on it!”

——-

Joxer pulls up to the cabin and Maxie and him get pit of the truck. Maxie looks at him and says, “A cabin? I thought we were going to stay at the main house?”

“Nope.” Joxer says. “This is were Xena and Gabrielle live. The main house belongs to Xena’s aunt.” 

They walk up to the door and Maxie says, “I just thought they lived at the main house.”

“No, this is their home.” Joxer says. “It may look small and run down, but it’s updated on the inside.” Joxer grabs Maxie’s bags and they walk to the front door. “I will say that back in ancient times, they would’ve loved a place like this!” 

“How do you know what they would’ve liked?” Maxie says sarcastically.

Joxer puts the key in the lock, turns it and says seriously, “Because, I’m a reincarnated. They were my best friends back in the day.” 

Maxie gets a shocked look on her face by his revelation as Joxer opens the door. They walk in and Maxie looks more surprised by the updated, we’ll kept cabin. A pillow and blanket lays on the couch. Joxer sits her bags by the couch as she looks around. 

“This is amazing!” Maxie says. She walks around exploring the kitchen, the bathroom and then the bedroom. She walks into the bedroom and sees a freshly made bed with new sheets and a cozy comforter. She walks back into the living room and says, “This is so beautiful!”

Joxer smiles and says, “I did a lot of the reconstruction of this place. Xena drew up the blueprints and I went to work.”

“You did an amazing job Jackson!” Maxie says. She grabs her bags and sets them in the bedroom. Joxer gets a weird look on his face.

“I was gonna sleep in there!” Joxer says shocked.

Maxie walks walks up to him, gently rubs his face, looks seductively in his eyes and says, “Come on Jooper, you wouldn’t want me to get a backache now. Would you?”

Joxer looks into her eyes, gives his goofy smirk and says, “Ok, you can sleep in the bedroom.”

“Thank you!” Maxie says as she smiles, turns around and walks into the bedroom. 

Joxer looks on, shakes his head and says, “Stay focused Joxer! You want to date an Amazon!”


	4. Revelations and Rallies

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In this chapter, Alex walks in on Xena and Gabrielle and doesn’t know how to take it. Vince reveals to Xena why Olivia treats Alex better than Maxie. Joxer starts to see Maxie in a different light. Steve and Joe scope Alex and Gabrielle out, with Xena watching them, Gabrielle, acting as Maxie, takes over Alex’s protest rally, which Alex ends up starting to show her true colors at the end.

The next morning, Alex walks up to Gabrielle’s bedroom door and knocks on it. “Gabrielle!” Alex says. “You awake?” She knocks again, “Gabrielle, up and at em!” Alex opens the door to see a barely naked Gabrielle and Xena under the sheets and in each other’s arms. A shocked Alex eyes get really wide as she doesn’t know what to make of the situation. She quietly closes the door, stands there in shock and then walks away.

Gabrielle and Xena open their eyes, Gabrielle smirks at Xena and says, “Tonight I’ll come to your room.”

“I think she got the shock of her life.” Xena says smiling. 

“Well, it’s going to be very awkward at breakfast!” Gabrielle says as they both start to giggle then kiss each other. 

About thirty minutes later, Xena and Gabrielle walk onto the patio. A nice spread of breakfast items are on a buffet table. Senator Byron and Olivia are sitting at another table, reading the morning headlines. Olivia looks up at Xena and Gabrielle, smiles and says, “Good Morning you two. I hope you had a good sleep!”

“Yes. Yes we did!” Xena says as Gabrielle and her smirk at each other.

“Grab some breakfast ladies!” Senator Byron says. “Don’t be shy!”

Xena and Gabrielle make a plate of food and pour coffee in cups. They walk over to the table, sit down and start to eat when Alex walks in. Alex looks at Xena and Gabrielle still in shock by what she saw, but she composes herself, grabs a muffin and juice and sits down across from them.

“Good Morning Alex.” Gabrielle says.

Alex looks back and forth at Xena and Gabrielle and says, “Morning.”

Olivia looks at Alex, giving her a strange look and says, “Alex dear, you look confused. Is everything ok?”

“Everything’s fine mother.” Alex quickly says.

“Are you sure?” Gabrielle asks. “You look a little pale.”

“I’m fine.” Alex says seriously. “It’s just strange without Maxie here.”

“Even though their personalities are extremely different, they’ve never spent a day apart.” Olivia says.

“Understandable.” Xena says. “So Alex, where is this rally today?”

“City Hall.” Alex says. “We are protesting the fact that the industrial park wants to put in a coal plant. The smoke stacks radiate so much smoke from the burning coal, that it depletes the air that we need to survive. There’s a common council meeting to vote on it. Luckily my dad is working on a bill in the senate that will ban factories like that from coming into this state.”

“Wow! That’s great!” Xena says. 

Gabrielle looks at Alex and says, “Maxie sent me a few videos of some of your rallies. You’re very vocal about your causes.”

“Well, when you are as passionate about the environment as I am, you need to make a difference.” Alex says proudly.

“Alex has always been our environmentalist!” Olivia chimes in, “Ever since she was little, she always cared about how to better the Earth.”

“Maxie is also.” Senator Byron says, “I remember as a young child, she was more into saving animals. Once when they were six years old, Maxie saved a mother duck and her babies from getting run over by passing cars. She made me go out into the middle of the road and direct traffic, while she escorted the mama duck and her babies across the street.”

“And Alex held a huge sign saying Stop! Duck Crossing!” Olivia chimes in.

Xena and Gabrielle smirk a bit then Alex looks at them and says, “At the rally, I will do most of the talking. All I want you to do is hold a sign I made and get the crowd going.”

“I think I can handle that.” Gabrielle says.

“Tomorrow will be big.” Senator Byron says. “After I make my announcement to run again for my state senate, the media will want an interview from all of you. I had Vince write down some things to say to the media when they want to interview you Gabrielle. Maxie may have a strong personality, but she does refrain herself when talking to the media about my campaign.”

“That won’t be a problem sir.” Gabrielle says.

“Maxie is very vocal!” Olivia says. “She’s strong willed I’d say.”

“There’s nothing wrong with that.” Gabrielle says.

Vince comes out with a folder and hands it to Senator Byron, who then hands it to Xena. “ This is the itinerary of what will go on tomorrow.” Vince then starts to leave.

Xena opens the folder and glances at it and says, “Ok, this is very good.” She glances up at Vince and then says, “Excuse me for a moment.” Xena then gets up and follows Vince into the house. “Hey Vince, can I ask you a few questions?”

Vince stops dead in his tracks and says, “What is it Ms. Xena?” 

“Please, just call me Xena.” She says, “How come Mrs. Byron favors Alex more than Maxie?”

Vince sighs and says, “Mr. and Mrs. Byron tried for a couple years to have kids, so when they found out that they were pregnant with twins, they were over the moon! They went to every ultrasound and the OBGYN said that they were having a girl and a boy! They had names picked out and everything! Alex, after Mr. Byron's grandmother Alexandrea and Maxwell after Mrs. Byron’s grandfather. But when Mrs. Byron went into labor, things changed. Alex was born first, and of course they were over the moon! Then two minutes later, Maxie was born. Senator Byron was elated, Just as long as the twins were healthy, he didn’t care what he had! But Mrs. Byron wasn’t. She was dead set on having a boy and a girl. Needless to say Mrs. Olivia was devastated that Maxwell ended up Maxie. Ever since then, Mrs. Byron always treated Maxie differently from Alex. Both the Senator and I tried to make up for it with Maxie, but when you have two girls, wanting attention, it’s hard.”

“So Mrs. Byron basically rejected Maxie because she ended up a girl instead of a boy?” Xena says shocked.

“In a way, yes.” Vince says sadly. “Oh, Mrs. Byron loves Maxie, she just wasn’t what Mrs. Byron wanted.”

Xena gets a troubled look on her face then says, “Is that why Maxie’s the way she is?”

“Pretty much.” Vince says. “Maxie has always had to fight for Mrs. Olivia’s approval her whole life. I think at one point, she just gave up and started to rebel. It’s a shame because the twins are now grown women and Maxie still has to fight for Mrs. Olivia’s approval and love.”

“You should love your children equally.” Xena says troubled.

“Yes, I know.” Vince says. “Maybe one day Mrs. Olivia will come to her senses and finally accept the fact that she had twin girls. Both of them are blessings in their own way, I just hope Mrs. Olivia will one day accept it. If you’ll excuse me.” Vince walks away as Xena gets a heart broken look on her face.

————-

Joxer’s eyes open as the smell of coffee lingers through the cabin. He yawns then sits up, moving his right shoulder to get the kink out of it. He rubs his eyes and starts to focus on where he is. He glances over to the kitchen to see Maxie, dressed in boxer shorts and a camisole top that shows her ripped abs and only goes down past her breasts. Joxer glances at Maxie, who doesn’t notice that he’s awake, and tries not to get fixated by her beauty. 

Joxer knows this isn’t Gabrielle. The love that he had for Gabrielle back in ancient times turned more into a big brother type of love over time. Even as clueless as he was and sort of still is today, he knows Gabrielle’s love will always be with Xena. He burned that bridge a long, long time ago. He stares at Maxie, who’s back is turned to him and he realizes that while Alex has this sort of charm that blows him away, Maxie has a beauty that intrigues him. There’s something that sets her apart from her twin, something he’d like to get to know better. He rubs his eyes again trying to focus on his mission when he looks up and sees Maxie, standing in front of him with two cups of coffee.

“Morning Jackson.” Maxie says smiling at him. “I don’t know what you take in your coffee, but here.” She hands Joxer a cup and he grabs it, trying not to check her out.

“Thanks.’, he says as he takes a sip. “This is fine.”

“I wanted to make us some French toast and bacon or something, but I don’t know where they keep the pans stored.” Maxie says. 

Joxer takes another sip of coffee and says, “Follow me.” He sets the cup down, gets up and Maxie follows him to a switch. He flips the switch in a mechanism that holds pots and pans comes down above the island. 

“Wow!” Maxie says in amazement, “For being such a small place, it has some awesome gadgets.”

“I designed this for them.” Joxer says smiling. “Total space saver.”

“You’re pretty handy around here Jessob.” Maxie says.

Joxer, refraining from correcting her for the millionth time, smirks a little and says, “Thanks.”

“Well, I’ll get breakfast started.” Maxie says.

About thirty minutes later, Joxer sits on the couch while Maxie sits in one of the leather chairs as they eat their breakfast. Maxie glances up at the pitcher that Xena drew and says, “That’s an amazing portrait! Did Gabrielle draw that Jessie?”

No, Xena did.” Joxer says, “And don’t call me Jessie. That’s Xena’s other name.”

Maxie looks at him strangely and says, “What do you mean?”

“Xena, Gabrielle and myself were reborn as our descendants.” Joxer says. “Before Xena and Gabrielle found each other again and the Chakram, Xena was born as Jessie Pappas-Decker, while Gabrielle was born as Abigail Covington.”

“And you?” Maxie asks intrigued.

“I was born as Lester Jacks.” Joxer says. “Even though Xena and Gabrielle remember their past lives and current lives that they were born in today's time. I can’t remember my life as Lester.”

“Why?” Maxie asks.

“I don’t know?” Joxer says. “I do know I work for Xena’s aunt and I’m skilled in various weapons, which I never was back then. I do have the feeling though we had similar personalities.” 

Maxie stares at the portrait again and says, “They look different, yet the same.”

“Yeah they do. Joxer says smiling. “Xena’s hair is a little lighter now and Gabrielle’s eyes are a little wider.”

“And you?” Maxie says. “What did you look like back then?”

“Well, I looked just about the same as I do now. At least I think I do.” Joxer says. “Except that when I was Lester, I must have worked out a lot because I didn’t have the abs back then that I do now.”

Maxie stares at his shirtless body examining his washboard abs and smiles. It suddenly dawns on Joxer that he’s been shirtless the whole time and he sits his plate down and quickly grabs his shirt and puts it on blushing with embarrassment. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to offend you.” Joxer says.

“Not at all!” Maxie says smiling at him. “So, what’s on the agenda for today Justin.”

“Well later on in the afternoon, I have to go clean out the main stable that houses Ms. Kira’s, Xena and Gabrielle’s horses.” Joxer says. “You’d probably want to stay here and chill. It’s a dirty job.”

“Gabrielle will be hooked up to a body cam so I can watch the rally that Alex and her are going to go to later this morning.” Maxie says. “But after that, I could come with you and keep you company after I’m done.”

“Like I said, it’ll be a dirty job.” Joxer says. “You’ve probably never been in a horse stable before.”

“I love animals!” Maxie says smiling. “Ever since I was a kid, animals have always held a place in my heart. They have more genuine feelings than most humans do at times.”

Joxer gives Maxie a shocked look and says, “I’d never thought you of all people would love animals like that.”

“Well Jason, if you look past the bitchiness, you may get to know another side of me.” Maxie says smiling at him. Joxer looks at her and sees something different in her eyes and smiles back.

———-

The scene is now city hall. Alex, Gabrielle and Xena are with a group of forty to fifty protesters. Gabrielle hooks up the mini body cam and links it to her phone. Alex looks at her strangely and says, “You’re vlogging this?”

“Yeah!” Gabrielle says as she looks at Xena and smirks, “I would like to vlog it for evidence, in case who ever wants you killed is in the crowd.”

“Oh! Ok, that makes sense.” Alex says. “Now remember, all I want you to do is to hold this sign and get the crowd going.” 

“Got it.” Gabrielle says. Gabrielle glances at the sign and notices that it’s really cheesy looking, like a twelve year old made it. She shows it to Xena who tries not to laugh. 

“I’ll be roaming around the crowd, making sure everything is ok.” Xena says. She then takes off into the crowd shaking her head while trying not to laugh.

Gabrielle sends a video link to Maxie’s phone. At the cabin, Maxie picks up her phone and opens up the app that Gabrielle downloaded. Gabrielle then texts

Gabrielle: At the rally now. Alex made a sign for me to hold and just wants me to get the crowd going.

Maxie gets a devilish look one her face and then texts Gabrielle a message.

Meanwhile in the crowd, Steve and Joe are dressed up as protesters. They scan the crowd and focus on Alex. 

There’s the one that got hit.” Joe says.

“I’m more worried about Maxie.” Steve says. 

They pan past Alex and quickly spots “Maxie”. “There she is!” Joe says.

“Now remember, we are only to make friends with them first!” Steve says. “Let’s split up and watch at both ends.” Steve and Joe take off in different directions but little do they know Xena was watching them from behind. She gets a serious look on her face then follows Steve.

Alex stands on the top step of city hall. Gabrielle hands her a megaphone and Alex speaks into it. “Brothers and sisters of Mother Earth!!! Let’s tell the common counsel that the air we breathe matters more than a coal plant!!” The crowd cheers in agreement. “It is up to us to make our voices known! Who’s with me!” The crowd cheers in agreement. “CLEAN AIR! NO TO COAL! CLEAN AIR! NO TO COAL!!”

As Gabrielle holds the cheesy sign that Alex made, she gets the crowd reved up! The crowds start to chant with Alex while Maxie is watching on her phone, she smirks and then texts Gabrielle. Gabrielle gets out her phone and reads Maxie’s text. It says

Maxie: You’re playing the role of me! Go ahead and do it! Don’t be afraid! I wouldn’t be! Come on Gabrielle! Be the bitch I know you can be! You got this!

Gabrielle gets a smirk on her face, puts her phone in her jean pocket, tosses the sign to the ground, grabs the megaphone out of Alex’s hand and says, “If we want to get our message through! We need to storm the counsel room! We need to fight and let our voices be known!!” Gabrielle jumps on the statue at the top of the stairs and screams, “LET OUR FUCKING VOICES BE KNOWN IN PERSON! NOT OUTSIDE! WHO’S WITH ME!”

The crowd screams with excitement as they follow Gabrielle into city hall. Alex gets a stunned, yet pissed off look on her face as she walks up to Xena and says, “This is supposed to be a peaceful protest! Why is she doing this?!?”

Xena looks at her, smirks and says, “She’s being Maxie.” Xena takes off after Gabrielle with Alex behind her. 

Gabrielle and the crowd runs through city hall and comes to the room where the discussion and voting is taking place. The common counsel sits in the chairs while various residents and the owners of the proposed plant speak their views.

“Ok, is there anyone else who would like to express their opinion on the proposal?”, the counsel president says.

All of the sudden Gabrielle and the crowd bursts into the room. Everyone in the room turns and looks at the crowd. “What is the meaning of this!” the counsel president says seriously. “Who are you! This is a private meeting!”

“We are the Phoenix chapter of GreenPeace and we want our voices heard on this matter!” Gabrielle says.

“Oh boy!” says one of the owners. “Get these tree huggers out of here!”

“No!” Gabrielle says seriously. “We are residents and the future of this city! And we demand to let our voices be heard!”

Meanwhile at the cabin, Maxie and Joxer, is watching it all on video. Maxie smiles and says, “You’re doing great! Now tell them how I feel!”

At city hall, the counsel looks at each other and the president says, “Go ahead. Everyone has a right to speak their mind.”

Gabrielle walks up to a microphone at a podium, looks around, smirks and says,”I’m Maxie Byron, head of the Phoenix chapter of GreenPeace, and Phoenix resident.” She looks at the owners of the proposed plant and asks, “Do you have plans to make sure this plant filters clean coal out of the smoke stacks that are on the blueprint, or will this plant just be another air polluting piece of shit.”

The two owners give a puzzle look at Gabrielle and one of them says, “What do you mean? This is just your standard plant?”

“The industrial parks in and around the city are environmentally friendly.” Gabrielle says. “All of them run clean factories that follow standards that were put in place by the state senate and the the state assembly and local aldermen and women. By the looks of the blueprints, it doesn’t.” 

Gabrielle gets a determined look on her face then looks at the common council and says, “This plant doesn't follow local and state requirements. It’s a plant that will resemble a plant from fifty, sixty years ago! It will deposit sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides, when reacted with water and oxygen, forms acid rain.” 

The council looks at each other in shock while residents in the crowd frantically discuss what was just said.”It will also emit something called coal ash.” Gabrielle says, “When breathed in not only by workers, but by the community, this coal ash can cause breathing problems, brain damage, problems with motor skills and it could cause environmental destruction! Do you want that for your children or your grandchildren! Do you want them to play outside knowing that their health and well being will be jeopardized by a coal plant that will be stuck in the last century!   
Do the right thing and vote no!

“Order! Order in the room!”, says the president. “Ok, we’ve heard from both sides now lets vote! All in favor of the new plant raise your hand.” Nobody on the board raises their hands. “All oppose?” The whole board raises their hands and the president pounds his gavel and says, “The council has voted! The new plant has been denied!”

The residents and protesters cheer in excitement while Xena, who is in back with Alex gives a smile of approval. Alex on the other hand, puts on a fake smile and claps, which Xena notices.

“She did amazing.” Xena says. 

“Yeah.” Alex says annoyed.

Back at the cabin, Maxie smiles in approval and says, “Fuck Yeah!”

“I take it Gabrielle won?” Joxer asks.

“Hell yeah!!” Maxie says. “She pulled me off to the tee!”

Outside city hall, remaining protesters congratulate Gabrielle and then they leave. Steve and Joe walk up to Gabrielle and Steve says, “Excuse me! What you did there was amazing!”

Gabrielle looks at the two men and says “Thanks!”

All of the sudden Alex appears out of nowhere and bumps Gabrielle over. Gabrielle flies into Xena, who catches her before she falls. Alex seductively looks at the brothers and says “Hello! I’m Alex.”

Meanwhile at the cabin, Maxie and Joxer watch in shock as to what just happened. Joxer looks at Maxie and says, “What did Alex just do?”

“She’s being true self!” Maxie says in shock. “I can’t believe she did that to Gabrielle!!”

“I can’t believe Gabrielle hasn’t killed her yet.” Joxer says. “Or even Xena!”

Back at city hall, Gabrielle and Xena look on in shock by what Alex just did. “Did she just push me over!?!” Gabrielle says in shock.

“And you haven’t killed her yet.” Xena says with a pissed look on her face. “You have more willpower than I do right now.”

“We were just going to tell your sister that what she did in the council room was awesome.” Joe says.

“Well, we Byron sisters speak our minds!” Alex says.

“I’m Steve!” Steve says

“I’m Joe!” Joe says. “This is our first rally and after what we seen, we would like to join your chapter of GreenPeace!”

“Well in you go online, you can find us under the Phoenix chapter sign up!” Alex says.

“Thank you! We will Steve says. “Well, we must get going. Maybe we all could get together sometime and discuss our views on the environment.”

“That would be great!” Alex says. “Just email me at the link on our page and we can set it up!”

“Ok! Bye!” Steve says

“Bye!” Alex says smiling ear to ear as the brothers walk away.

Gabrielle walks over to Alex and asks, “Why did you push me like that. Those guys wanted to talk to Maxie.”

Alex gives Gabrielle a sly look and says, “Well you’re playing the part of Maxie out in public aren’t you! I have to go along with it also.” Alex looks at Xena and says, “I’ll see you in the car.” 

Alex walks away and Gabrielle says, “I’m starting to think that the wrong sister is the bitch.”

“I have to tell you something later.” Xena says. “I found out why Maxie is treated differently.”

“I’m not going to like it, am I?” Gabrielle asks

“No! Not at all.” Xena says. “You’ll actually get pissed off.”

“Like I’m not already.” Gabrielle says annoyed as they walk to the car.


	5. Stables, Heartbreak and Campaign Season

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Maxie meets Blaze, Joxer sees the true side of Maxie. Maxie reveals what she actually want to do with her life. Joxer reassures Maxie that she is wanted. Alex apologizes to Gabrielle, but Gabrielle think she bluffing. Xena tells a shocked and heartbroken Gabrielle about Mrs. Byron rejecting Maxie. At Senator Byron’s re-election speech, Mrs. Byron makes it know to Gabrielle that she doesn’t care for Maxie. Shots are fired as Xena has the shooter in her hands. And in a scene not even done on the real show, Alex does something shocking to Xena, that pisses everyone off.)

Later that afternoon, Joxer and Maxie, who is now dressed in jeans, t-shirts and boots, enter the main stables. Maxie looks around and says, “Wow! This is great!” 

“Clean it out once, then you’ll have a different opinion!” Joxer says. 

Maxie walks around and comes to Kira, Gabrielle and Xena horse’s. She first pets Kira’s horse. “Hey sweetie! You’re beautiful!” 

“That’s Ms. Kira’s horse.” Joxer says.

Maxie then walks over to Gabrielle’s horse, pets it and says, “Hi there!” 

“That’s Gabrielle’s horse.” Joxer says.

Blaze sticks her head out of her stable as Maxie comes to her. Maxie puts out her hand and Blaze stares at her, examining her. Blaze sniffs Maxie’s hand and starts to make a gruff sound. All of a sudden, Blaze starts to back kick into her stall and Joxer quickly comes up and says, “It’s ok Blaze!! This isn’t Gabrielle!”

“What’s the matter?” Maxie says confused.

“Blaze is confused by you. She sees Gabrielle, but she knows you’re not her!” Joxer says frantically.

Maxie jumps on Blaze’s gate and starts to pet her. “It’s ok! Shh! Calm down! My name is Maxie! I look like Gabrielle, but I’m not her! I won’t hurt you! Trust me!”

Maxie lets Blaze sniff her hand again and Blaze starts to calm down. “I’m a friend of Gabrielle’s! I know it’s weird for you, but trust me honey!”

Blaze starts to calm down and Maxie looks at Joxer, who stands there looking stunned. “ Go get me an apple, treat or something! Now!” Maxie says seriously.

Joxer runs to the office and comes out with a few apples. Maxie grabs one and feeds it to Blaze. Blaze then nuzzles Maxie and takes her nose and kisses Maxie on the cheek.

Joxer watches as Maxie calms Blaze down with ease. He tenderly smiles at her as he looks past the tuff, yet bitchy chick persona she always portrays. “There is something more to her.” Joxer says in his head. “Maybe I was wrong about her.”

Maxie pets Blaze one more time and says, “That’s it ! Now we’re friends.” She jumps off the gate, grabs the other apples and gives one to the other horses. She then looks at Joxer, smiles and says, “You want to help me get the horses in the corral so you can clean their stalls out, or are you just going to stand there looking all goofy as fuck!”

Joxer gives off his goofy grin as Maxie and him go to put the horses in the corral. About ten minutes later, Maxie and Joxer get the horses in the corral. Joxer looks at her and says, “What you did back there with Blaze was amazing.”

“Well, like I said earlier, animals have always held a special place in my heart.” Maxie says. “At one time, I wanted to be a veterinarian.”

“How come you don’t pursue it?” Joxer asks

Maxie looks to the ground and says, “In the Byron family you either get into law or politics, nothing else.”

“There’s nothing wrong with being a veterinarian also!” Joxer says.

“No, there isn’t.” Maxie says as she looks at the horses roaming around the corral. “But when you’re expected to fulfill family legacies like my sister and I are, you put your dreams and ambitions on hold.”

“Maybe you should create your own legacy.” Joxer says looking at her seriously. “There’s nothing wrong with that.”

Maxie pounds her fist on the rail, looks at Joxer and says, “Let’s just go clean out the stalls.” Maxie walks into the stables as Joxer looks at her with a sence of heartbreak on his face.

Meanwhile at the Byron house, Xena, Gabrielle and Alex pull up to the house. They get out of the car and Alex looks at Gabrielle and says, “I want to apologize to you about my actions earlier. You played Maxie to a tee and I just had a moment. I hope you accept my sincere apologies.”

Xena and Gabrielle look seriously at Alex and Gabrielle says, “I accept your apologies, just don’t do that again!” 

Alex walks into the house and Xena says to Gabrielle, “You’re being very nice to her.”

“She’s bluffing.” Gabrielle says. 

“Well, just wait until I tell you what I found out from Vince.” Xena says. “Mrs. Byron isn’t what she portrays either.” 

At the stables, Joxer and Maxie are cleaning out the stalls. Joxer is blown away by how Maxie knows how to clean the stalls as she shovels out debris and tosses it in a barrel. “You’re doing a great job.” Joxer says.

Maxie looks at him and says, “Alex is the prissy one. I’m not afraid to get my hands dirty.”

“Sorry if I touched a nerve earlier.” Joxer says. “If I offended you I’m sorry.”

Maxie scoops up some more debris, tosses it in the barrel, looks at him and says,”You didn’t offend me.” She looks to the ground, then back up to him, “I’ve never talked to anyone about my dreams or goals before.”

“Not even your sister?” Joxer asks. “She’s your twin!?!”

“Yeah, she is my twin.” Maxie says. “But all she cares about is herself.”

“Don’t you two have that whole twin connection thing?” Joxer asks.

“When we were younger, yes. But now Alex is too self-absorbed with herself.” Maxie says. “You know when we got shot at, I was the one who felt the pain of the bullet going through her shoulder before she even noticed.”

Joxer gets a worried look on his face. “What about your parents?”, he says. “Why don’t you talk to them about it?”

“Like I said, in my family, you either go into law or politics.” Maxie says. “My dad’s too busy with the senate and my mom really doesn’t give a fuck about me.”

Joxer looks at her concerned and says, “You’re mom cares about you.”

Maxie looks at Joxer with a sad look on her face and says, “I wasn’t the child she wanted.” Joxer stands there completely shocked by what Maxie just said.

Meanwhile at the Byron house, Xena and Gabrielle are in Xena’s bedroom. Xena has just told Gabrielle what Vince revealed to her. Gabrielle sits on Xena’s bed in complete shock and heartbreak.

“Are you serious!?!” Gabrielle says in shock.

“Yep!” Xena says.

“Wow! Just, wow!” Gabrielle says as she stands up and starts to walk around. “No wonder she is the way she is!”

“I just feel so bad for her.” Xena says. “For your own mom to reject you because you weren’t a boy!! That’s cold!”

Tears start to form in Gabrielle’s eye as she says, “In a way, I know how she feels. My dad still doesn’t accept me for how I am now, or us. My parents are still separated because of it.”

Xena hugs Gabrielle and says, “You both are strong women in both situations. Let’s just hope one day soon, they will be able to accept one another. And hey, I do believe that one day, your dad and you will connect again.”

“I hope so.” Gabrielle says. “Because he hasn’t even said anything to me in over a year. And at times, it does hurt.”

Xena hugs her tightly and says, “I know Gabrielle! At least with this mission, maybe we can help Maxie and her mom reunite.”

Back at the ranch, Maxie just told Joxer how she was supposed to be a boy and how her mother’s rejection damaged her. She wants to cry, but her tuff chick persona kicks in. “So I just fucking deal with it.” Maxie says. “Ya know, the fact that I’m a rejection in my mother’s eyes. 

Joxer just stands there shocked and heartbroken. He puts his shovel down, walks up to Maxie, hugs her and says, “I am so sorry Maxie! I can’t believe a mother would do this to her own child. Listen to me, you are not a rejection ok! Your dad loves you, right!” Maxie looks at him and shakes her head yes.

“And Vince seems cool, like an uncle of sorts. He doesn’t reject you. And I know deep down, Alex doesn’t reject you.’”Joxer says. “You have people who love you Maxie. Your mom just needs to realize that she got you instead and that you were put here for a reason. You do matter Maxie.” Joxer gives Maxie his signature Joxer grin then says, “I’ll be back, have to check on the horses.”

Joxer leaves the stables as Maxie stands there, thinking about what he told her. She smiles tenderly and says,”Thanks Joxer.”

——————-

The next day outside the offices of Senator Byron, a podium is set up with a sign that says Re-Elect Matt Byron for State Senate. The press is setting up cameras and getting ready for Senator Byron’s announcement. 

The Byron family is outside his offices with Vince and is dressed for the occasion. Gabrielle, as Maxie, who is also dressed in nice clothes. She hooks up the body cam to an opening of her buttoned shirt and links it to her phone. She sends a text to Maxie,

Gabrielle: Getting ready to face the public at your dad’s senate announcement. Hope Joxer hasn’t been too much of an ass to you

Maxie picks up her phone, reads the message, smiles and texts Gabrielle,

Don’t be nervous when reporters are asking questions. Oh, and he’s actually growing on me

Gabrielle reads her text, gets a weird look on her face, smirks a bit then shows Xena the message, who also gives off a weird smirk. “You don’t think?!?” Gabrielle asks.

“I’ll be shocked if it happens, but you have to remember, he was with Meg!” Xena says. 

Vince walks up to Xena and Gabrielle and says, “We’re on in twenty minutes.”

“Ok, I’m going to take one more walk through the crowd.” Xena says. 

Xena walks off and Vince says to Gabrielle, “Did you go over the notes on what I wrote to say to the media?”

“Yes I did Vince.” Gabrielle says. “ I have to ask you something, if that’s ok.”

“What is it Ms. Gabrielle.” Vince says.

Gabrielle smiles and says, “Please, just call me Gabrielle!”, she then takes a breath and says, “Does Mrs. Byron actually care about Maxie? Xena filled me in on what you told her. Is it true?”

Vice sighs and says, “Mrs. Byron need to get over the fact that she didn’t have a son. After the twins were born, she couldn’t have any more children. I do believe she loves Maxie. She just needs a wake up call to push her. Maxie is an extremely loving, caring, good hearted young lady. Mrs. Byron’s actions just damaged her.” Vince walks away and Gabrielle gets a serious look on her face.

Xena walks through the crowd scanning everyone, she sees a guy with no press credentials setting up a camera. She walks up to him, flashes security credentials and says, “I’m with security, please show me your press credentials!!” 

The guy reaches into his vest and shows a press credential and says, “Sorry! Just got caught up in the moment.” 

She glances at the credentials and hands it back to him and walks off. The guy reaches into his pocket and pulls out a phone and texts another guy at the other end and the text says:

Security is tight. Watch for an Amazon type woman scoping out the crowd!!

The guy looks at his phone and looks around and spots Xena scooping out the crowd. Xena walks up to him and says, “Credentials please!” The guy pulls out credentials and shows it to her. She glances at it and asks,”What paper or station are you from?”

“The Phoenix Sun Gazette.”, the guy says as he also takes out a card that looks like a name badge for the said paper. 

Xena glances at it and hands it back to him and says, “Next time keep all your credentials out so security won’t have to ask next time.”

“Got it!”, the guy says. “Sorry.” Xena walks away and the guy texts a third guy in a van and the text reads:

All clear. When the time comes, get into position. Remember, after the announcement is made and the press is done asking questions, that’s when you scare the target.

The third guy reads the text then pulls out a handgun, loads it and waits for the moment to strike.

Meanwhile, Xena walks up to Gabrielle and scans the crowd one more time. Gabrielle notices a sense of panic on Xena’s face. “Is everything ok?” Gabrielle asks.

“Yes and no. Everything is too calm. ” Xena says. “Just be prepared to protect Alex if I leave the group suddenly.”

Alex overhears what Xena told Gabrielle, walks up to them and asks,”Is everything ok?”

“Just stick with your parents and Vince ok.” Xena says seriously.

“If you feel something is going to happen, please make the situation as peaceful as possible.” Alex stresses. “Violence isn’t the answer.” 

Xena and Gabrielle give Alex a serious yet sarcastic look and Xena says “‘I’ll try my best.”

At the cabin, Maxie and Joxer are watching what is happening via Gabrielle’s bodycam. Joxer gets a serious look and says, “Xena senses something. Something is going to go down.”

“I hope nobody gets hurt.” Maxie says a little panicked.

“Xena and Gabrielle will make sure nothing happens to your family.” Joxer says. “You can trust them.”

“Oh, I trust them.” Maxie says, “It’s Alex I don’t trust.”

At Senator Byron’s offices, Senator Byron has just made his re-election speech and reporters are asking him and the family questions. Gabrielle, as Maxie, is really into the role, answering all the questions as Maxie would. As the press starts to dwindle down, Xena scans the crowd again. Gabrielle looks over at Xena and sees the worried look in her eyes. 

“Well now, that went very good!” Senator Byron says happily.

“You did great honey.” Olivia says. “Alex, once again always expressing your environmental views in a peaceful fashion.” Olivia looks at Gabrielle, smiles and says, “And Gabrielle, you did great also, you pretty much have Maxie down to a tee.” Olivia then looks at Gabrielle and says in an unapologetic tone, “At least you have the decency not to curse in public. Maxie would’ve upstaged Alex and spewed something about fighting to save the plant at any cost. Alex at least thinks before she says something.”

Gabrielle looks at Olivia seriously, she sees that Olivia really doesn’t care about Maxie, and it pisses her off, but she composes herself as Xena walks up to the family.

“I’m going to take one more walk around the crowd.” Xena says. Suddenly shots are fired and the windows to Senator Byron's office smash. Senator Byron and Vince get Olivia on the ground as she screams. Gabrielle pushes Alex to the ground as Xena takes off after the shooter.

At the cabin, Maxie gets a panicked look on her face and says, “Oh my god! Someone shot at my family!” 

Alex looks up to see Xena running into the crowd, which scatters in panic. Alex screams, “Don’t hurt anyone!” She pushes Gabrielle off her and she starts running after Xena. 

Gabrielle starts to run after Alex screaming, “Alex stop!”

Maxie and Joxer watch everything in shock as tears roll down Maxie’s face. “What is Alex doing! She’s going to get herself killed!” Maxie says worried.

Xena takes a few steps and yells “Ayiyiyiyiyiyiyi!!” She jumps into the air and flips over a crowd of reporters and cameramen, trying to report on what’s happening. Just as the shooter is about to let off another round. Xena lands in front of him, knocks the gun out of his hand and kickboxes him in the stomach. He tries to swing at her, but she blocks his punch and throws him to the ground. She gets on top of him and punches him. “Who are you working for!”, she yells. The guy refuses to say anything and she punches him again, “I said who are you working for!” Still nothing from the shooter. 

Xena takes her index and middle finger and just as she’s about to do the pinch on him, Alex runs up to Xena, shoves her off the shooter, jumps on her and says, “Don’t hurt him! Violence isn’t the answer!”

The shooter suddenly takes off. Xena looks at Alex in a rage, tosses her off her and takes off after the shooter. As Alex’s gets up, Gabrielle rushes up to Alex, punches her in the face and and says, “What the fuck did you just do! You don’t ever do that to her when she’s doing that move! Are you fucking crazy!’

At the cabin, Maxie and Joxer look on in shock. “She did not just do that!?!”Joxer says.

“What happened!?!” Maxie asks worried.

“Xena was about to do her signature pinch move on the shooter to find out who wants you two dead and Alex stopped her!” Joxer says angrly. “Nobody, in ancient times or this time, has ever done that to her! When Xena catches up to Alex, you better pray Xena doesn’t kill her!”

Maxie looks back at the screen in shock

Gabrielle fists curls up as she’s about ready to punch a shocked Alex again, when she controls herself as Senator Byron, Vince and Olivia run up to them.

“Is everyone ok!” Senator Byron asks. “Where’s Xena! What happened!?!”

Gabrielle looks at Alex, points to her and says angrily, “Don’t say a thing!” Gabrielle looks at Senator Byron and says, “Xena had the shooter on the ground. She was about ready to do her signature pinch move on him, to see who he’s working for when Alex rushed up to Xena, pushed her off him and caused him to get away!! Xena’s chasing after him right now.”

“She had the actual shooter on the ground?” Olivia said.

“Yes.” Gabrielle says seriously. “But your daughter basically helped him get away.”

Senator Byron, Olivia and Vince look at Alex and Senator Byron asked, “How come you stopped Xena?!? She’s protecting you and you let the shooter get away!”

“That move that Xena was going to do on him, it’s her signature move.” Gabrielle says. “It only would’ve paralyzed him for thirty seconds so she could get info out of him. She wouldn’t have killed him.” Gabrielle glares at Olivia and Alex and says, “Mrs. Byron, I suggest you take Alex home right now! Because when Xena gets back, she may lash out at Alex.”

“Alex was only trying to settle things peacefully.” Olivia says.

Gabrielle looks at the family and says, “Nobody has ever stopped Xena from doing that move. Not in ancient times or this lifetime! Alex may have just signed her own death wish when Xena gets back.” She then looks at Olivia and says, “I know Maxie isn’t your favorite, but Xena and I were hired to protect the twins and find out who wants them dead! We can’t do it if Alex is going to butt in with her pacifist views and stop us! If you ask me, Alex is the one who needs to think before reacting. It could save her life one day!”

Xena runs up to the family and says, “Is everyone ok! The guy got away, but I have squad cars following him.” Xena looks at Alex and a look of rage comes across her face as she’s about ready to attack her. 

Gabrielle stops Xena and says seriously, “I have things under control!”

“I’m so sorry Xena!” Senator Byron says as he angrily looks at Alex. “Alex won’t interfere with Gabrielle and your mission anymore!” 

Xena glares at Alex, then looks at Senator Byron and says,”When we get back to the house, Gabrielle and I want to see Vince and you in private! We need to discuss a new strategy now.”

Gabrielle looks down and sees a business card she picks up and it reads Brewster/Lennon Oil and Mining Inc. She then sees Dale Lennon’s name and number printed on the bottom right hand side of the card. She flips it over and sees the names Steve and Joe and two numbers scribbled on it. She puts the card in her pocket and Xena and her glare at Alex, who has a scared look on her face. Xena and Gabrielle start to walk past Alex when she tells them, “I’m sorry!”

Xena and Gabrielle stare Alex down, then decide to walk away, leaving Alex to think about what just happened.


	6. Piecing Things Together, The Truth Hurts, Temptations Rising

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In this chapter, Xena and Gabrielle show Senator Byron and Vince the card Gabrielle found. Senator Byron tells them how Dale and him are connected. Olivia interrupts the meeting to lash out at Gabrielle for giving Alex a fat lip. Tensions heat up between Gabrielle and Olivia as Gabrielle and Senator Byron put Olivia in check. Meanwhile at the cabin, Maxie asks Joxer what it was like on adventures with Xena and Gabrielle and Joxer tells her the heartbreaking story of Xena and Gabrielle’s crucifixion by Caesar. Feelings start to show between Joxer and Maxie as they share a sweet moment!

About thirty minutes later, Xena and Gabrielle walk into Senator Byron’s den. Senator Byron and Vince are at his desk discussing what happened.

“Xena, Gabrielle, come in please.” Senator Byron says. “Sit down.”

Xena and Gabrielle sit across from Senator Byron and Vince. Senator Byron looks at them and says, “I again want to apologize for what Alex did. She gets her pacifist views from her mother. I wouldn’t be shocked if you decided to quit right now.”

Xena looks at him and says, “When we sign on to something, we finish the job.”

“Thank you.” Senator Byron says.

“We may have a lead on who wants the twins dead.” Xena says. Gabrielle pulls the card she found out of her pocket and hands it to Senator Byron. He glances at it, shakes his head and hands it to Vince, who also shakes his head. Xena looks at them and asks, “Do you know this man?”

“Dale Lennon was a college classmate of mine.” Senator Byron says. “His dad owned a major oil and gas company and Dale was expected to inherit it after college. My father, who was the state’s attorney general at the time, discovered that Lennon Oil was dumping toxic waste near the Grand Canyon and had his company shut down. Needless to say, Dale sought revenge after that. He vowed to destroy me and my family when he could get the chance.” 

He stands up and walks to the window, then looks at Xena and Gabrielle and says, “Tomorrow, Alex and Maxie are supposed to go to the Arizona/New Mexico border with their GreenPeace group because Brewster/Lennon Oil is planning to do soil samples to start drilling. I can’t stop Alex from going, she is passionate about this. But now with this new detail, she’ll be a sitting duck if Dale Lennon is behind this. What do you two suggest?”

Vince looks at Senator Byron and says, “How about I go along with them. Xena could keep tabs on the perk and I can keep tabs on Alex.”

Senator Byron looks at Xena and Gabrielle and asks, “Is that ok with you?”

Xena and Gabrielle look at each other and Xena says, “That’ll work.”

Suddenly Olivia bursts into Senator Byron den, points to Gabrielle and says, “That savage gave our daughter a fat lip!”

Everyone looks at Olivia, who says, “Her lip is swelling up!” 

Senator Byron looks at Gabrielle, then back at Olivia and says seriously , “Alex deserved it! Xena was protecting her and she let the shooter get away! I know you’re anti-violence and all, but our daughters' lives are in danger!”

“Well if Maxie wasn’t being so angry and destructive , this wouldn’t be happening!” Olivia yells! “She’s useless!!”

Suddenly Gabrielle gets up from her chair, looks Olivia in the eyes and seriously says, “With all due respect, maybe if you would just accept the fact that she wasn’t what you wanted and just love her for her, maybe, just maybe she wouldn’t be the way she is!”

Olivia stands there with a shocked look on her face as Gabrielle continues, “In the past week, in person and playing her, I’ve gotten to know who Maxie really is. Underneath this brash and destructive woman is a daughter who’s loving and caring and just wants the same from her mother.”

“How dare you criticize me!” Olivia says.

“She’s only telling the truth!” Senator Byron yells. “While you’ve been spoiling and showering Alex with attention, Vince and I have been trying to raise Maxie the best way we could! I love both our daughters equally, but my god Olivia! You damaged Maxie!”

“That’s not true!” Olivia says in shock.

“Her actions are because of you!” Gabrielle yells, “If anyone is to blame for the way Maxie is, it’s you! Rejecting her because she wasn’t the son you wanted! How dare you deny her! All her life, all she wanted was your love! But you ended up treating her fucking worse than your maid! You are not a mother! You’re a fucking monster!”

In anger, Olivia goes to slap Gabrielle in the face, but Gabrielle blocks her hand and says, “Unless you want a fat lip like Alex, I’d suggest you don’t even think about swinging at me!”

“Leave now Olivia!” Senator Byron yells. “We will talk about this later!!! I’m trying to save our daughters lives right now and I can’t deal with you! Go!”

Olivia gets an angry look on her face and storms out of the den rushing past Alex, who has heard the whole argument. She stands there shocked by what was said, thinking about what had happened. She looks to the ground, then back up with a small tear rolling down her face. She then takes off to her bedroom

Meanwhile at the cabin, pizza boxes are scattered on the kitchen island as Joxer and Maxie dive into slices of pizza.

“I still can’t believe Alex did that to Xena!” Maxie says as she sets down her piece of pizza. “Would Xena have really killed Alex?”

“No.” Joxer says. “She just would’ve kicked her ass, though I think Gabrielle handled it when she punched Alex in the mouth.”

Maxie giggles a bit, rubs her jaw and says, “Gabrielle has a great swing. Don’t know about Alex, but I felt it!” Joxer and Maxie laugh. “So you were their sidekick back in the day?”

Joxer puts down his piece of pizza, smiles and says, “Yeah, I was.”

“What was it like traveling with Xena and Gabrielle?” Maxie asks. “I’ve been reading some of the Xena scrolls that Gabrielle posts on her blogs, but I want to hear it from someone who was there.”

Joxer takes another bite of his pizza, smiles and says, “We had some amazing adventures. Some good ones, some crazy ones and some serious ones that would shake you to core,”

“What was your most heartbreaking adventure with them?” Maxie asks.

Joxer stares off, gets a sad look on his face and says, “When a nightmare I had came true.” Maxie gets a serious look on her face as Joxer looks at her and says, “I had a bad nightmare that Xena and Gabrielle were in danger and I had to go help. But when I got to them, it was too late.”

“What happened?” Maxie asks seriously.

“When I got to them, they were crucified by Caesar.” Joxer says.

“Like Julius Caesar!? Maxie says shocked.

Joxer shakes his head yes and says, “Xena and Caesar had a bad past. Pure hate on both sides. It was only a matter of time that one of them killed the other. When I arrived, it was too late.”

Joxer continues telling Maxie about Gabrielle’s turn to pacifism through the prophet Eli and how she renounced any and all fighting. Joxer tells her about how Brutus killed Ephiny and because of Gabrielle’s turn to pacifism, she blamed herself. He tells her about Gabrielle then renounced her pacifism to save Xena from Caesar’s guards, but by the time he got there, it was too late. Maxie sits there in shock and awe. 

Joxer then says to her as a tears start to form in his eyes, “My heart broke. My two best friends were crucified just for helping the greater good.” He then tells Maxie how Xena and Gabrielle went to heaven and hell, how Xena sacrificed herself for Callisto and how Eli resurrected Xena and Gabrielle and how Xena acquired the Yin/Yang Chakram.

“Holy fuck!” Maxie says shocked. “Wow! What I’ve done is nothing compared to that. I don’t mean to be the way I am.” 

Joxer takes a bite of his pizza, leaving a little sauce on the side of his lip. He looks at her, smiles and says, “I know Maxie. Hey, let’s talk about something a little more happier. Let’s squash all the sadness for a bit!”

Maxie notices the sauce on the side of his lip and starts to laugh.

“What’s wrong?” Joxer asks

Maxie takes her finger and rubs the side of her lip. Joxer doesn’t register what she’s doing and she sighs, grabs a napkin and says, “Here you goof!” She leans up against him with a napkin in hand and wipes the sauce off his lip. He looks down at her and they smile at each other. Maxie stares at him deeply and says, “There ya go.” She sets the napkin on the table, looks back at him and says, “I want to thank you for earlier, what you said. It meant a lot to me.”

“I meant what I said.” Joxer says smiling at her. “You do matter.” They stare deeply at each other then Maxie smiles at him then leans back on the couch. Joxer smiles at her, grabs the remote, turns the tv on and they start to watch tv. All of the sudden, Maxie puts her head on his shoulder. He looks down at her and smiles as they watch tv.


	7. True Feelings Realized, A Grave Mistake and True Love Blooms

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In this exciting chapter, Joxer and Maxie come to realize that they truly love each other. At the protest, Vince lays down the law to Alex, but she doesn’t listen? Maxie sees an unseen video from the day before that send her in a rage and she storms out the cabin. Joxer also sees the video and goes to Maxie, who is at the stables talking to Blaze. After Joxer tells Maxie that he loves her, she tells him the same thing and finally calls him by his name. Joxer and Maxie takes it to the next level and passionately make love to one another. At the protest, Alex confronts Josh, Xena sences the shooter and in another shocker, Alex deflects the Chakram causing Vince to be injured, Xena goes in ER mode and out of rage, Gabrielle does the pinch on Alex. Back at the stables, Joxer and Maxie decide to become a couple and Maxie reveals to Joxer the reason why she called him different names! (Disclaimer: Protection was used with Joxer and Maxie! Don’t need any little Joxers or Maxies running around just yet! 😉👍🏻)

Joxer wakes up in the middle of the night and stares at the ceiling with thoughts running through his head. Thoughts he never thought he’d have again. Yes, it’s been two Millennia since Meg, but that was then. Just like Xena and Gabrielle, Joxer feels he was given a second chance. And even though it’s been weird, he’s adapted to this new world. 

But, unlike Xena and Gabrielle, he doesn’t feel Lester. He knows who he was before he woke up in that hospital room almost eight months ago, but he doesn’t feel Lester’s spirit. “Maybe it’s for the best.” Joxer says in his head. “From what I heard, Lester was a fucking jerk who only wanted to score with any girl he came in contact with, no consequences.” He sits up, rubs his eyes and says, “That’s not me.”

He sits there and thinks, he doesn’t feel like the idiot sidekick to the Warrior Princess and The Battling Bard either, like he knew he was back then. Sure, he still acts like his goofy Joxer self, but since meeting Maxie and getting to know her, the real her, he feels different. He feels like a new Joxer. He looks at the ground, then back up to the fireplace and says to himself, “I need to put the past behind, leave it in the past. I have a second chance, and I want it with Maxie.” He smiles tenderly and says, “I’ve fallen in love with Maxie.”

He gets up to go to the bathroom and notices the bedroom door is halfway open. He walks over and glances inside to see Maxie, peacefully sleeping. He tenderly smiles at her and whispers, “Sleep well my Maxie. I love you.”

Later that morning, Joxer wraps a towel around his waist after taking a long, hot shower and drying off. He goes to open the door and Maxie, dressed only in a towel and not paying attention, bumps into him. 

“I, I’m sorry!”, she says as she looks him in the eyes. She glances at his very toned body enjoying what she sees, but quickly composes herself, looks back in his eyes and says, “Excuse me.”

“Sure, no problem!” Joxer says flashing his goofy grin. 

He walks past her and she shuts the door to the bathroom, she leans up against the door, takes a huge breath and says to herself, “Why am I falling for that goof?!?” She looks down to the ground and says in her head, “This isn’t like the one night stands I do to squash my anger from the bullshit I deal with, this is the real deal.” She tenderly smiles and continues with her thoughts, “He’s a fucking goof! But he’s caring, compassionate and the first person in my life to actually listen to me and to be there for me through this shit.”

She walks to the sink, looks in the mirror and says to herself, “I’m way out of his league.” She turns her head and looks at the door and continues, “When this is all over, Alex will fly in on her fucking ray of sunshine and scoop him up like she’s always done with every guy I’ve fallen for.” She looks in the mirror and says to herself, “NO! He’s mine! I won’t let her have him! Not this time! He’s mine! He’s mine!” Suddenly she looks at herself, smiles and says, “I love him! I fucking love that goof!”

————-

At the Arizona/New Mexico border, Xena, Gabrielle, Alex and Vince get out of a dark colored SUV. Alex walks over to Xena and Gabrielle and tries to start a conversation, but they walk away from her. Vince walks up to Alex and says seriously, “You are to just do your protest thing and nothing more. Do you understand?!? Your life is at risk and all of us want you safe.”

“Yes Vince.” Alex says. “I understand.”

“Good!” Vince says, “Listen Alex, I applaud your passion for non-violence, but sometimes it’s needed. Just think before you react please!”

Alex looks over to Xena and Gabrille, who is getting into character, then back at Vince and says, “I will try my hardest.”

Good!” Vince says as he then walks away. Alex looks back at Xena and Gabrille and then says, “Won’t promise anything though.”

Fifteen minutes later, around forty protesters are standing on a hill with signs and chanting “No oil! Disturbing sacred land!”, while Josh is overlooking a group of samplists who are taking soil and sand samples and packaging them in tubes to be shipped to their labs. Alex looks over at Josh and says to Gabrielle, “I’m going to talk to that guy over there. He seems to be the lead man on this. Come with me now!” Alex starts to take off and Gabrielle looks at Alex angrily, then follows her.

Alex walks up to Josh and says, “You know what you’re doing is disturbing sacred Native American land! Many tribal people were buried here with honor and what you’re doing is wrong!” Josh looks off in the distance, trying to ignore her. “What if you don’t find oil!” Alex yells “The remains of the dead will still be disturbed!”

In anger, Josh looks at Alex and says, “Don’t you think I know this! My grandparents and great-grandparents are buried here on this land!” 

“Then why disturb their burial site!” Alex says seriously, “Why work for a company that is willing to dig up your grandparents and great-grandparents just to see if there’s any oil running through here! It’s a dishonor to them and you!”

Josh looks down to the ground and says, “It’s work.”

Alex looks at him and says, “But that’s your family.”

Josh looks at Alex and says, “Security is coming, you better get back to your group. They will have you arrested.”

Looking out of a RV on the land is Dale, Joe and Steve. Dale looks out the window and says “The Byron girls are in our grasp. Text your guy to get into position.” 

“Sir, we just want to inform you that their bodyguard is Xena: Warrior Princess!” Joe says a little worried.

“I don’t give a damn who she is!” Dale yells. “Have your guy take her out first, then the twins!”

“You don’t understand!” Steve says. “She’s like a superhuman person!”

“And I don’t care!!!” Dale says. “Kill them all! Now!!”

———-

Back at the ranch, Joxer walks out of the stables and gets on his ATV and heads back to the cabin. At the cabin, Maxie picks up her phone and sees that there was a video from Gabrille that she missed.

“Wow, wonder what happened next?” Maxie says. She opens up the app and uploads the video and begins to view it. She watches as Xena, Gabrielle, Vince and her dad discuss today's protest, then how Olivia bursts in and screams at Gabrielle. How her dad comes to Gabrielle’s defense and then Maxie watches as Olivia tell the group that Maxie is useless. Maxie rewinds that part and watches it again, then one more time. With tears rolling down her face, she stands up and in a rage she screams, “I HATE HER!” 

Maxie throws the phone on the couch, runs to the door and opens it to see Joxer, she rushes past him in tears and jumps on his ATV and takes off for the stables. Joxer starts to chase after her and yells, “Maxie! Stop! What’s wrong!” Frantically he runs back into the cabin and grabs her phone and watches in horror as Olivia screams to everyone about Maxie being useless. Tears start to roll down his face as he runs out of the cabin and towards the stables.

A couple minutes later, Maxie, who is holding back tears, is petting Blaze. Maxie kisses her, looks Blaze in the eyes and says, “Humans are so cruel. Even the ones who are supposed to love you and take care of you.” Blaze nuzzles Maxie on the check, Maxie smiles at her and says, “If you weren't Xena’s horse, I just take you and go.” Joxer runs in just as Maxie tells Blaze, “I don’t matter, I’m useless and nobody really cares about me.”

“That’s not true Maxie!” Joxer says seriously. Maxie turns around and looks at him with tears rolling down her face. Joxer walks up to her and says, “That’s so not true!”

Maxie walks past him and screams, “I hate her! I hate her! I hate her!” Maxie starts to cry and then says, “How come nobody loves me!”

Joxer takes her in his arms, kisses her forehead and says, “That’s not true Maxie! That’s so not true!” He looks her in the eyes and says, “You are wanted, you do matter and damn it Maxie! You are loved.” He takes his hand and caresses her face and says, “I love you!” 

They stare deep into each other’s eyes and all of the sudden Joxer leans over and passionately kisses Maxie. She melts into his arms, taking in the kiss. After a minute they come up for air, Maxie looks into his eyes, smiles and says, “I love you too Joxer.”

Realizing that she finally said his name, Joxer tenderly smiles at Maxie then passionately kisses her. The kiss becomes more hotter as they start to lean up against a stall door. Maxie starts to unbuckle Joxer’s belt and he then stares deeply at her. The look in their eyes says it all and they dive into a passionate, steamy kiss.

A minute later a door to a back room opens where there is a bed. Maxie reaches down and pulls off Joxer’s black tee-shirt, revealing his toned body. Joxer then unbuttons Maxie’s shirt and as it falls to the ground, he leans her up against the door and kisses her neck. Maxie arches her neck as Joxer, kisses it moving up to her lips. They look each other in the eyes with pure love. Joxer then slowly kisses her as they move to the bed. 

A few minutes later they are naked, under the covers and passionately making love to each other. Maxie moans in pure ecstasy as Joxer passionately enters her. He wants this to be perfect, he knows she is the love of his life, the love that he never thought he’d have. She was it, and with every kiss, every slow, pulsating thrust he wanted to prove to her that she was his.

Maxie soaks it all in. This was the love that she needed, wanted and craved. Maybe she was denying herself in the beginning, but deep down she knew he was the one. He broke down the wall that she put up, bringing out the real her, treating her with love that she desired. She moans in pure joy as he kisses her breasts, her neck then lips. They look into each other’s eyes and Maxie says to him, “I love you!” He kisses her as they continue to make deep passionate love to each other.

—————-

Gabrielle and Alex walk up to an unsettled Xena. Gabrielle notices the look on Xena’s face and asks, “Xena, what’s wrong?!?”

“The shooter is near! I can feel it!” Xena says as she rushes over to the crowd and yells, “Protest is over! Everyone leave! Now!” Gabrielle walks over to the crowd and says, “Listen to her! We will meet at another time! Everyone needs to leave!”

As the group quickly disbands, Vince and Alex walk up to Xena and Gabrielle. “What’s wrong?” Vince asks.

“The shooter is near!” Xena says looking around. “I can sense it!” Xena and Gabrielle walk about twenty feet away from the others and pans the area. Xena notices a small hill a quarter mile in back of them. She stares at it focused on the small movement on top. She sees what looks like a long rifle pointing down at them and she takes out the Chakram, looks in the area and flings it in the air. It hits the rifle and starts bouncing off other rocks. The shooter stands up and takes out a handgun. Suddenly Alex, thinking that the Chakram will hit the shooter and kill him, picks up a long stick and flings it at the Chakram. 

The Chakram is deflected away and suddenly it flies in Vince’s direction, hitting him in the chest and shoulder. Vince suddenly hits the ground gasping in pain as the Chakram comes back to Xena, she grabs it and yells in horror, “Vince!” She runs over to him and assesses his injuries. 

Josh suddenly runs up to Xena and asks, “What happened! Is he ok!”

“I need some towels, rags, anything! I need to stop the bleeding!” Xena yells. Josh quickly runs to the work van and comes out with a bunch of towels and a medical kit and brings it to her. He then goes to call 911.

Meanwhile Alex steps back and looks in horror by what just happened. Suddenly in anger and pure rage Gabrielle rushes her and slams her to the ground. Gabrielle jumps on top of her, slams her body into the ground and says, “What the fuck! How dare you!” Out of anger Gabrielle raises her right arm and her middle and index finger shows and suddenly she does the pinch to Alex’s neck. Alex suddenly becomes paralyzed as Gabrielle screams, “That man who is practically your uncle is injured because of you! This is your fault!”

“Gabrielle! Take the pinch off her now! We need her alive!” Xena screams as she tries to help Vince. “Now Gabrielle! I need your help over here!” Blood starts to trickle down Alex’s nose as she looks on in fear. “Now Gabrielle!” Xena screams.

Gabrielle releases the pinch, looks into Alex’s eyes and says, “This is your fault!” Gabrielle gets up and rushes over to Xena and Vince as Alex lays there with a tear rolling down her face as she realizes what she has done.

Gabrielle leans down and looks at Vince’s injuries. Vince takes a breath and says, “It hurts!” Gabrielle takes another towel and holds onto his wounds as Josh comes up and says, “Rescue squad is about five miles away!” He looks over at Alex who is now sitting up and asks, “Is she going to be ok?”

“Yeah, it’s her ego that is hurt right now.” Xena says. Xena looks at Gabrielle and says, “The chest wound looks ok, it’s the shoulder I’m worried about.” She looks back at Vince and says, “Vince, I’m going to numb the shoulder for a bit and see if you have any nerve or tendon damage ok! You won’t feel a thing.” She reaches into the medical kit and takes out a pair of gloves and puts them on. She looks at Gabrielle, who takes the towel off and she double pinches Vince’s shoulder, paralyzing it. She takes her index finger and reaches into the wound, feeling around as Vince takes a deep breath. She takes her finger out and Gabrielle puts another towel over the wounds. Xena takes off the gloves as the rescue squad pulls up. Paramedics jump out and run over to them. Xena says, “The chest wound seems ok, but he may have some nerve damage in the shoulder. I paralyzed his shoulder, but the effect is starting to wear off.”

The paramedics put him on a stretcher, quickly load him into the ambulance and rush off. Alex walks over to them and says panicked, “Is Vince going to be ok?”

Xena and Gabrielle look at her in a rage and Xena says, “Shut the fuck up and get in the car! Now!” They quickly walk past Alex as she looks down to the ground in sorrow, then follows them to the SUV.

______

An hour later, Maxie lays in Joxer’s arms after they consummate their love for each other. Joxer kisses her forehead, smiles and says, “I hope you can deal with my goofiness!” Maxie kisses his chest, smiles and says, “Just as long as you can deal with my bitchiness!” They both laugh as Joxer then says, “You finally called me by my name.” She giggles and says, “I’ve always known your name was Joxer!” He looks down at her confused. She looks up at him, smirks and says, “When I start to like someone, I always fumble the actual name at first. It’s when I started to fall in love with you that I stopped with all the names.” Joxer flashes his goof smile and Maxie looks at him, smiles and says, “I truly love you Joxer.” She kisses him and they start to make love again as the sun starts to lower in the sky.


	8. Alex Gets Schooled, Connection Broken and Secret Plans

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In this chapter, Senator Byron blames Olivia for how the twins turned out, Gabrielle schools Alex on pacifism, Joxer and Maxie talk about their future, the connection that Maxie and Alex once had is severed and Alex tries to redeem herself by coming up with a plan to flush out Dale and his men.

A couple hours later at Phoenix Memorial Hospital, Xena and Senator Byron are talking to an ER doctor, while Olivia sits with a bruised up Alex. Gabrielle sits across from the mother and daughter with a pissed off look on her face. Gabrielle stares down Alex, who knows that she is to blame for what happened to Vince. 

Senator Byron and Xena walk over to the trio and Senator Byron says “The wound to his chest isn’t bad, didn’t cause too much damage, but they are going to have to do extensive surgery on his shoulder.”, he looks at Xena and says, “This isn’t your fault Xena. You were just trying to save lives.” He then looks at Alex and sternly says, “What you did was inexcusable! You almost killed a man who has been like an uncle to you! And for what! To stop the person who was trying to save your life!”

“I’m sorry.” Alex says.

“Sorry isn’t good enough!” Senator Byron yells.

“Matt! Please! She feels awful about this!” Olivia says seriously.

“No Olivia!” Senator Byron says, “You are also to blame for this!”

“How so!” Olivia says seriously. “How am I to blame!”

“If you just would’ve gotten over the fact that we couldn’t have a son, accepted Maxie and not spoiled Alex her whole life, they wouldn’t be the way they are!” Senator Byron says. “In my eyes you damaged both of them.” He looks away then back at Olivia and says, “Frankly, the things Maxie has done is nothing compared to what Alex did! In their own way, they both are damaged! And it’s because of you! I need to go get some air before I end up saying anymore.” 

Senator Byron takes off and Olivia soon follows him leaving Xena, Gabrielle and Alex alone. Alex looks at the both of them and says, “I’m sorry.”

“We don’t believe you Alex.” Xena says. “Your dad trusts us to find who wants Maxie and you dead and you purposely foiled every chance we had! Now look, Vince is about to have major surgery because of you!”

“I was only going with what I believed in!” Alex says seriously.

Gabrielle quickly gets up, grabs her chair, sets it in front of Alex, stares her down and says, “I’m going to tell you a story about what happened to Xena and I back in ancient times, from an ex-pacifists point of view! And I want you to let it all sink in! OK!”

“You were a pacifist?” Alex says shocked.

“Just shut up and listen!” Gabrille screams. Gabrielle tells Alex about Eli and how under him, she renounced violence. How she tried to live by the pacifist ways, trying to live the way of peace. “At the time, I felt the only way to do things for the greater good, was to renounce violence and embrace pacifism.” Gabrielle said. “But I soon realized that what I was doing was not helping people, it was killing them.” Gabrielle tells Alex how Brutus killed Ephiny, “I was an Amazon Queen, and she was my second in command, my Amazon sister and my best friend. I watched in horror as Brutus killed her! I realized then, I failed her and this was my fault because if I didn’t turn to pacifism, I would’ve fought alongside her and I would’ve killed Brutus myself.”

“I thought Xena was your best friend?” Alex says.

“Just shut up and listen!” Gabrielle says seriously. Gabrielle then tells Alex how Callisto corrupted Caesar’s mind. And how a group of Eli’s followers and herself, got captured by Caesar’s guards. How they were able to escape, but in the ordeal, Calisto deflected the Chakram and it severed Xena’s spinal cord, rendering her paralyzed. “I stood there and watched Caesar’s guards beat and torture Xena. I just stood there and watched them brutally beat and torture my lover and soulmate!” 

Tears start to form in Gabrielle’s eyes as Xena grabs her hand. Gabrielle closes her eyes, kisses Xena’s hand, looks at Alex seriously and says, “Then, something inside me snapped! I couldn’t take it any longer, I couldn’t stand there and watch Xena die. The fighter in me emerged and I started to kill as many guards as I could, even smashing a guards head to a pulp. I was later captured by his guards.

“What happened next?” Alex asks.

Gabrielle looks Alex in the eyes with a serious, cold look and says, “Caesar had Xena and I crucified.”

Alex sits there shocked by what she just heard. 

Gabrielle then tells her how they went to heaven and hell, how they became archangels, how Callisto got her to eat the food of the demons, turning her into to one, how Xena sacrificed her soul to save Calisto’s, how Xena was returned to heaven and then how Eli resurrected the both of them. Gabrielle gets up from her chair, looks down at Alex and says, “It's ok to believe in something. But when it harms or kills the ones you love, sometimes you have to think, Is what I believe more important than those I love or care about!” Xena and Gabrielle then walk out of the waiting room and leave Alex there to sit and let it all sink in. What they didn’t know, was Olivia was watching and listening from a far, also shocked by what Gabrielle told Alex.  
———-

The next morning, Joxer and Maxie walk into the cabin and Joxer puts Maxie up against the door and they tenderly kiss. Maxie looks at Joxer, smiles and says, “You know, where you stay, it’s kind of small.”

Joxer flashes his goofy grin and says, “Since I basically live here and work for her, Ms. Kara is going to let me buy a couple acres of land so I can build a home. Hopefully our home, if you’re ok with that!?!”

Maxie gets an excited smile on her face and says, “I would love that!” They kiss again then Maxie says, “I thought about a lot of things, and I’ve decided to follow my dreams and apply to veterinary school!”

Joxer hugs her and says, “That’s great! Any dream or goal you have, I want you to go for it!” 

They walk over to the couch and sit down. Maxie looks at him and says, “I also am going to confess to blowing up that work truck at Brewster/Lennon Oil.” Joxer gets a worried look on his face, Maxie caresses it and says, “This past week I’ve done a lot of soul searching and confessing what I did is the right thing to do.”

“But you’re already on probation!” Joxer says, “You might end up doing hard time for this.”

“Not if I’m completely honest and apologetic for what I did.” Maxie says. “Joxer, you changed me! You tore down that dristructive wall that I had up most of my life. I want to start new with you! But I have to own up to what I did!” Joxer closes his eyes in sadness. “Hey! Maybe I’ll get only a year, six months with good behavior, But I have to own this one up!”

Joxer looks at her, smiles and says, “You know I’ll come and visit every week!”

“And I want you to tell me how our house is coming! Ok!” Maxie says. 

Joxer smiles at her and says, “You know I will!! Xena and I will work on blueprints and designs and Gabrielle can decorate!! Wait! Maybe if I ask Aphrodite she can come up with some cool artwork!”

“Like the Goddess of Love Aphrodite!?!” Maxie says shocked.

“Oh yeah!” Joxer says smiling, “We are buds! She was responsible for my whole reincarnation! You can ask Xena and Gabrielle!”

“I believe you, you goof!” Maxie says as she kisses him. 

He smiles at her and says, I’m going to make us some breakfast!”

“Sounds great!” Maxie says. “I’m going to check my messages and see what happened yesterday!”

Joxer goes over to the kitchen and starts to make breakfast, while Maxie checks her phone. She sees message after text message from Xena, Gabrielle and her father. She gets a worried look on her face and calls Gabrielle. 

On the other end, Gabrielle answers. “Maxie! Is that you?”

“Yeah Gabriele, what’s up?” Maxie says.

“Xena, your father and I have been trying to contact you since yesterday afternoon!” Gabrielle says seriously. “What happened.”

Maxie looks over to Joxer, smirks a little and says, “My phone died. Had to recharge it. What’s up.”

Gabrielle tells Maxie what had happened at the protest, how Xena tried to stop the shooter, but Alex stopped her causing Vince’s injuries. Maxie gets a panicked look on her face and says, “Is he ok!”. Gabrielle tells her that he’s going in for surgery on his shoulder to repair two torn tendons, “I, I need to see him!” Maxie says in a panic!

“No!” Gabrielle says. “We know who wants both you and Alex dead. We can’t blow our cover! Just lay low and watch the video from yesterday. Oh, and I will tell you now that, out of anger, I ended up roughing Alex up a bit. She’s ok. Hopefully what happened yesterday has made her think a bit.”

Joxer looks over at a concerned Maxie, who hangs up with Gabrielle. “Is everything ok?” Joxer asks.

“I have to watch the video from yesterday. Apparently Alex made everything worse.” Maxie says seriously.

After Joxer and Maxie eat breakfast, they sit on the couch and watch the video. Maxie watches in anger as Alex deflects the Chakram. “What the fuck was she thinking!!” Maxie says in anger. They then watch as the Chakram injures Vince, how Xena rushes to his aid and then they watch Gabrielle do the pinch on Alex. They watch what was said and Xena telling Gabrielle to release the pinch, how she needs her to help with Vince. Maxie pauses the video, gets up, walks around and then tells Joxer in a shocking tone, “I didn't feel it. You know how I’m able to feel any pain that Alex feels! I didn’t feel the pinch. The connection is broken.”

Joxer gets up and wraps his arms around her and says, “Maybe you’ve finally let go. You’ve been damaged for so long that maybe you told yourself to let go of the toxic that was consuming your life.” A tear starts to roll down Maxie’s face and Joxer kisses her forehead. “The two of you will always remain twin sisters. But maybe a part of you just needed to let go.” They walk back to the couch, sit down and Joxer takes Maxie in his arms. She snuggles up to his chest, thinking about what he just said.

——- 

Later that day, Xena, Gabrielle and Senator Byron are on the patio discussing tomorrow’s agenda, “Vince always handled everything for me. I’m going to have to get my spokesperson to fill in.” Senator Byron says, “I have a press conference tomorrow in front of my office going over what my agenda is for my next term, and of course the family will be there.”

“I’m going to heighten security.” Xena says. “I don’t want what happened a couple days ago to happen again.”

“Dale Lennon is sneaky.” Senator Byron says.”His men can sneak past the most heightened security.”

“Well maybe what we need to do is draw him and his men out.” Xena says. “It’s the only way we can catch him.”

“How do you suppose we do that?” Senator Byron asks. I’ve always spoken directly to my constituents. Plus his men and him know what Alex and Maxie look like.”

“Dad.” Alex says walking up to them. “I know right now the last thing you want to do is to listen to anything I have to say right now, but I just may have a plan. If you’ll listen to me.”

The trio looks at Alex seriously and Xena says, “How do we know that you won’t screw this one up Alex! Your pacifist ways have done more harm than good! In fact in ancient times, I would've already killed you by now.”

Alex gets a freaked out look on her face, takes a breath and says, “Listen, I’m sorry for my actions. I have a lot of changing to do. But will you just listen to my plan. It may help the situation.”

The trio look seriously at each other and then Senator Byron says seriously, “Go ahead. What is it!”


	9. Nightmares, Found Out, Secret Switch And Maxie To The Rescue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In this emotional final chapter, a nightmare that Maxie has leads Joxer and her to Phoenix. Joe and Steve tell Dale something important. Alex’s plan goes into effect, Xena lets Maxie in on the plain, Maxie airs out her feelings to Olivia, Joxer has a gun, Xena, Gabrielle and Maxie kicks ass and Joxer and Maxie reveal to Xena, Gabrielle and a very pissed off Alex that they are in love

Later that night, Joxer and Maxie are lying in a duffle bag, Maxie’s arms wrapped around him. She suddenly has a dream about her father's press conference later on the next day. Her dad is going over his agenda if re-elected when all of the sudden three men take rifles out and shoot down her dad, mom and sister. Maxie suddenly wakes up gasping for air. Joxer is also woken up, sees Maxie and says, “What’s wrong?”

“We have to go to my dad’s press conference later! My family is in danger!!” Maxie says panicked. “I have to save them!”

Joxer hugs her and says, “Ok, we’ll go to your dad’s press conference, but we have to go in disguise ok!” Maxie shakes her head yes and Joxer continues, “In the morning, text Xena and Gabrielle about your dream, maybe it’ll give them a heads up so they can take precaution, ok.” He runs his hands through her hair and says, “If you’re going to turn yourself in tomorrow, this may be the last night we have together.” Maxie leans over and they passionately kiss. Joxer lays her back down and they passionately make love to each other.

The next morning at Brewster/Lennon Oil, Joe and Steve are in Dale’s office relaying some news to Dale, who gets a shocked look on his face. “You mean to tell me that this Xena chick has had her partner, who is a dead ringer for the twins, play Maxie?!?”

“It’s the only reason why our guy hasn’t been able to pick the twins off.” Steve says. “Just look at the video we had when the shooter couldn’t get a hit on them at the border.” 

Dale watches and is shocked by what he sees, “These chicks are something.”, he says. He gets up off his chair, looks out the window and says, “They have to be hiding Maxie either at home, or at his office when he does a press conference. At one, Byron is going to hold a press conference to discuss his agenda if he’s re-elected. We will be there.”

“We sir?” Joe says, “I thought you didn’t want to be tied to this?”

“I want this finished.” Dale says. “Maxie will be inside his office. I want you two, your guy and myself there at the conference. I want to end this today!!”

“The media and supporters will be there!” Steve says in a panic.

“So! This is gonna end today!” Dale says. “Even if we have to take the whole family out! I want this done!” Dale sets up a plan with Joe and Steve, but what he doesn’t know is Hal was outside his office, listening in on the whole conversation. He gets an angry look and walks away.

Joxer and Maxie are on the road to her dad’s office in Xena’s Jeep. Joxer, who is driving, is dressed in his western apparel, while Maxie is dressed in jeans, a hoodie, a ball cap and sunglasses. Joxer looks over at her and says, “I hope these disguises work!” 

“They will!” Maxie says. “I texted Gabrielle, told her about my nightmare.”

“What did she say?” Joxer asks.

“She thanked me for the heads up. She said dreams and nightmares go hand in hand with your gut instincts.” Maxie says. “She said that she would tell Xena and they will work something out. That they have a plan to flush the guy and his men who want us dead out of hiding.” Joxer gets a weird look on his face and Maxie tells him, “Don’t think about turning around! I need to know my family is going to be safe!”

“I know.” Joxer says, “It’s just the closer we get to your dad’s office, the closer I’m going to lose you for a while.”

Maxie takes off her sunglasses, looks at him tenderly and says, “We will deal with it when it happens, ok. For once in my life, I want to feel like I’ve done the right thing for my family.”

Joxer looks at her and says, “Your family should be lucky to have you Maxie.” They smile at each other and Maxie puts her sunglasses back on as Joxer continues to drive.

At the Byron house, Xena and Senator Byron sit out on the patio at the long table. Senator Byron looks at Xena and says, “I hope this works. I’ve never kept anything from Olivia, but there are some things she just doesn’t need to know.”

“I agree.” Xena says. “And I hope this works also. I’m going against my instincts trusting Alex.” 

“I know, and again, I want to apologize for Alex’s actions.” Senator Byron says. “What she did was irresponsible.”

“You shouldn’t apologize for the things she does. She’s a grown-up now.” Xena says, “She’s the only one that needs to own up to what she did, not you.”

“True.” Senator Byron says. “I just wish I was around more for Maxie.”

Xena looks at him and says, “You can’t change the past. But you can work on the future. Maxie knows you love her.”

Senator Byron smirks and then Xena and him look up at someone. “Perfect.” Xena says.

Later on at Senator Byron’s office, new bullet proof windows are installed giving some layer of protection. The media is starting to gather and set up for the press conference. Xena, Senator Byron and Olivia are standing at his desk. Olivia has a worried look on her face. “I hope security is tight!” Olivia says

“It is.” Xena says. “Things are under control.

Senator Byron looks up and says, “Well girls, you ready.”

The scene pans to Alex and Gabielle, but something looks off. “Yes dad!” Alex says. “We’re ready.”

About two blocks down in a dark SUV, Dale, Joe and Steve park. Dale looks at the brothers and says, “Is your guy in position?”

“Yeah, everything is ready to go.” Steve says with a worried look on his face.

“Hey! I’m going to get what is mine!” Dale says. “I’ve been waiting over twenty five years to get back at Matt Byron. Not even a glorified bodyguard is going to stop me!” Steve and Joe look worried at each other.

About thirty minutes later, the media and his supporters are gathered out front. A podium with various microphones is set up about ten feet from the front door. Meanwhile, Joxer and Maxie park about a half a block down. “They should be walking out soon.” Maxie says. “Let’s just scope things out first.” Joxer reaches into the glove box and pulls out his handgun, opens up his western jacket and puts it in a body holster. Maxie gives a little smirk and says, “Now that’s what I’m talking about!”

Joxer flashes his trademark grin and says, “You know, back in the day they didn’t call me Joxer The Mighty for nothing!”

Maxie smiles, starts to giggle and says, “You goof!”

“But I’m your goof!” Joxer says as he gives her a kiss. “Come on, let's go save the day!” They get out of Xena’s Jeep and mingle into the crowd.

Senator Byron, Olivia, Alex, Gabrielle and Xena walk out of his office. Senator Byron is being briefed by his spokesperson while Xena, Gabrielle and Alex scan the crowd. Joxer and Maxie walk to the front of the crowd and Xena spots them.

“What the hell are they doing here!” Xena says as she points to Joxer and Maxie. Alex and Gabrielle look in their direction as Xena gets out her phone and texts Maxie.

Maxie grabs her phone and read the text

Xena: What are Joxer and you doing here!!!

Maxie texts back

Maxie: The nightmare I had, I needed to come! I want to help save my family!

Xena gets a frustrated look on her face and texts

Xena: Ok, here’s the scoop!

Joxer looks at Alex and Gabrielle with a strange look and says “Something’s different!” 

Maxie looks up from her phone and says, “What?”

“Alex is a half of an inch taller than you right?” Joxer asks.

“Yeah why?” Maxie asks

“Look at Alex and Gabrielle.” Joxer says. 

Maxie stares at them, gets a smirk on her face and says, “Just go with it babe.”

Joxer stares and then smirks at Maxie, “I’m going to scope out the area” he says, then leaves. 

Senator Byron walks up to the podium and says, “Good afternoon people of the Phoenix area. I would like to go over some ideas I have for you if I am re-elected for a third term..” Hal and Josh walk up to the front of the crowd and listen to what Senator Byron has to say. Senator Byron continues, “My ideas for the next term if I am re-elected are..”

All of the sudden, Dale, Joe and Steve come from around the building with hand guns. The crowd gasps and Olivia looks on with a frightful look. “Whole family! Hands in the air!” Joe yells.

“Dale!! What the hell is going on!” Hal screams. “Are you crazy!”

“Sorry Hal, no, I’m not crazy!” Dale says, “I’m seeking revenge!”

“For what!” Hal says. “What did the Senator do to you?!?”

“His father was the reason I lost out on a massive company and my father died in jail!” Dale screams in anger.

“Your father was dumping dangerous toxins in the Grand Canyon!” Senator Byron says, “My father was only doing the right thing!”

“Because of your father, I lost my father!” Dale says, “Now I’m going to take what matters the mist to you! Your family!” Dale looks over at Xena and says, “You, Amazon looking chick! Take that thing from the side of your hip and hand it to one of my men!”

Xena looks down at the Chakram, smirks and says, “I don’t think so!”

Dale instructs Joe to go grab it from her belt. He walks over, grabs it off her belt, but suddenly it gets really red and he drops it. “Ouch!” Joe said, “That thing burned my hand!”

Xena smirks and says, “It only reacts to its owner!”

Dale points the gun at “Gabrielle” and says, “Where’s Maxie! I know you're the Amazon's partner! Where is Maxie!”

“I’m standing right in front of you.” Gabrielle says.

Dale pushes her into Olivia, grabs Alex, gives her to Steve and says, “Where is Maxie! Now!”

Olivia pushes Gabrielle, goes to run to Alex and says, “Don’t you dare harm my daughter!” Dale grabs Olivia, points his gun at her. Senator Byron. Starts to charge at Dale, but Dale aims the gun at Senator Byron, who freezes and says, “If you don’t tell me where Maxie is, I will shoot your wife and daughter! Now where is she! IS she inside your office!”

“Here I am!” Maxie says seriously as she takes her sunglasses off and reveals her true self. She walks over to her dad and says, “You want me! Here I am! Just let my mother go!”

Olivia stares at Maxie seriously and says, “Maxie, you don’t have to do this.”

“Yes! Yes I do!” Maxie says seriously.

Meanwhile on the side of a building across the street, the shooter takes his rifle, loads it and looks through the scope seeing the real Maxie. He takes aim, releases the safety, when all of the sudden the barrel of a gun is pointed to his head.

“Drop the rifle now!” Joxer says seriously pointing his gun at the shooter's head. “Or I swear, if you hit Maxie, I will scatter your brains along this wall! Drop it now!”

The shooter drops the rifle to his side and raises his hands. Joker, with his free hand, picks the rifle up, takes the strap connected to it and loops it around his shoulder. “Let’s go! Now” Joxer says and he and the shoot walks to the crowd.

Meanwhile, Maxie stares at Olivia and says, “I have to do this!”

“Dale, please! This is crazy!” Hal says. 

Maxie looks at Hal and says, “Mr. Brewster, first off I would like to confess that I was the one who blew up your company truck. Yes, I’m an environmentalist, but what I did was totally wrong. If you want to press charges, that’s fine. I will even reimburse you for damages, I am truly sorry. But I was also acting out due to personal problems.” She looks back at Olivia and says, “You see, in my mothers eyes, I wasn’t wanted.”

“Maxie please!” Olivia sadly says.

“No Mom!” Maxie yells. “My whole life I watched you pamper and shower Alex with all the love and attention because I wasn’t the son that you were supposed to have!”

A look of remorse comes across Olivia’s face as she says, “Maxie, please!”

“No mom! This has to come out!” Maxie says. “I’ve been holding it in for so long, I can’t anymore!”

Joxer and the shooter walk to the front and tells the shooter, “On the ground now!” Joxer sets the rifle down, looks at Xena, who gives him a thumbs up.

“Because I wasn’t the boy that you so wanted, you rejected me!” Maxie says seriously. “How does a mother reject a child like that?!? You’ve treated me like shit my whole life that I’m damaged for it!” Maxie looks at Gabrielle and Alex then back at Olivia and says, “The camera that Gabrielle has been using, it’s really hooked up to an app I have! So I’ve been watching everything that’s been going on!! You know that I felt like nothing when you said I was useless!” 

A tear start to run down Olivia’s face as Maxie continues, “So I’m going to do the most useful thing in your eyes and surrender myself so you can continue to spoil Alex!” Maxie looks at Alex and Gabrielle then says to both of them. “I’ve always had a connection with Alex even though her connection broke a while ago. I always felt her pain. The other day when Gabrielle put the pinch on Alex, I didn’t feel it!!” Maxie looks at Olivia and says, “So my connection is severed!! You can have your beloved daughter! In your eyes, I don’t matter!” Maxie looks at Dale and says, “Release my mother. You got me!” Dale pushes Olivia over to Senator Byron and he grabs Maxie.

“Dale! Let her go!” Hal says. Dale goes to shoot at Hal, but grazes Josh. Josh kneels in pain, grabbing his right arm! “Josh!” Hal says kneeling down at him, checking his condition. He looks up at Dale and says, “You bastard!”

Xena looks at Alex and Gabrille and screams, “Switch!” Wigs fly off to reveal that Gabrielle was playing Alex and Alex was playing Gabrielle. Everyone who’d didn’t know about the switch looks puzzled. Xena quickly picks up the Chakram and puts it on her belt.

“What the hell is this!” Dale says. All of the sudden, Maxie elbows him in the stomach, grabs his arm, kicks the gun out of his hand and starts whaling on him. Xena kicks the gun out of Steve’s hand, twists his arm, breaking it as he falls to the ground crying in pain. Gabrielle reaches down, grabs a Sais out of her boot, stabs Joe in the leg and kicks him in the head. He goes down next to his brother. Maxie punches Dale, who swings around and is met by Senator Byron’s fist. Senator Byron punches him so hard he is knocked to the ground!

“Thanks dad!” Maxie says smiling.

“No problem honey!” Senator Byron says smiling as he hugs her. The police finally show up and take over the situation.

A few minutes later, Maxie and Senator Byron are talking with the police. Olivia walks up to Maxie and says, “Maxie, I want to apologize to you.”

Maxie looks at Olivia seriously and says, “Why.”

“I never meant to hurt you the way I did. It was wrong of me to do that. I hope you can forgive me.”

Maxie looks sternly at Olivia and says, “It may be awhile if I can, This isn’t something I can just say forget and forgive.” Maxie looks at the ground then at Olivia and says, “You have some soul searching to do. I’m going to tell you that when I do have kids, no matter if they are boys or girls, they all will get equal love from me. None of them will ever be rejected the way you rejected me.” 

Maxie walks over to Xena and Gabrielle. “You did the right thing by owning up to that truck explosion.” Xena says.

“Well I couldn’t live without with the anger anymore.” Maxie says.”I want to thank you two for helping me realize that I do matter.”

“Of course you matter!” Gabrielle says. “The real you just need to come out to see that.”

Maxie looks over at Joxer, smiles and says, “Well I had help!”

Xena and Gabrielle look at Joxer and Maxie with shocked looks on their faces. “Are you serious!?!” Gabrielle asks, surprised.

“Let’s just say after I get out of jail, you’ll be seeing more of me!” Maxie says with a smile.

Meanwhile, Alex walks over to Josh, who’s being attended to by paramedics. “How are you?”, she asks

“Just grazed.” Josh says. “I’ll live. You know, I thought about what you said and I’m going to try and talk Mr. Brewster out of drilling in that area. I need to protect the legacy of my ancestors.”

“Thank you for realizing that!!” Alex says. She looks over at Joxer who is talking to other police, she gets a smile and starts to walk over to him. “Hi Joxer!” Alex says seductively.

Joxer looks at Alex and says, “Hi Alex, what do you want?”

“You know what you did was very brave.” Alex says as she rubs her hand across his face. “How about we go out on a date and I can show you how a hero is treated!”

Joxer takes her hand off his face and says, “Alex, you’re a sweet girl, but I have to tell you something.”

Maxie, Xena and Gabrielle look over at Joxer and Alex. Maxie gets a pissed off look on her face and says, “Oh hell she doesn’t!” Maxie rushes over to Joxer and Alex with Xena and Gabrielle following Maxie.

Alex looks at Joxer with a smile on her face when Maxie grabs her, turns her around and says, “Get your fucking hands off him now!!” 

Alex looks at her twin with a conceded look and says, “Maxie! You’re going to jail for a few years! Besides, I always get the guy!”

Maxie goes to hit Alex when Xena and Gabrielle jump in between them. “Hey now.” Gabrielle says, “She may be a spoiled brat, but she is your sister.” 

Joxer looks at Alex and says seriously, Alex! As I was going to say, you’re an amazing woman and maybe one day you’ll find the right guy. But you're not my type.” Joxer walks over to Maxie and they share a passionate kiss, shocking Alex. Joxer looks at Alex and says, “I’m in love with Maxie!”

Alex gets an angered look on her face and says, “That’s impossible! I always get the guy! Alex starts to go after Maxie when Xena steps in, throws her over her shoulder and says, “Time to take you by your mommy for a time out!”

“Put me down!” Alex screams. Xena takes Alex over to Olivia, puts her down, looks at Olivia and says, “Take her home now!” Xena looks over at Maxie and says, “For once let Maxie have her day in the sun!”

“You’re right Xena.” Olivia says smiling at Maxie. She looks at Alex and says, “We’re going home and having a long talk!” Olivia grabs Alex’s arm and takes off.

Maxie looks into Joxer’s eyes and says, “They’ll probably book me and I’ll stay overnight. I’ll call you when I’m out.”

They share a passionate kiss. Then Senator Byron walks up to them and says, “I really don’t want to break this up, but the police want to question you Maxie.”

Maxie walks to her father and they leave. Xena and Gabrielle walk to Joxer and Xena says, “So I take it the date with an Amazon is off!”

Joxer sweetly smiles and says, “Yeah!”

“Well the only one who would go out with you was Jade!” Gabrielle says.

“The crazy one!” Joxer says shaking his head. He looks back at Maxie and says smiling, “It’s ok. I’ll pass. Like you two, I was given a second chance, and my second chance is with Maxie!”


End file.
